Earnings Update: Republic First Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRBK) Just Reported And Analysts Are Boosting Their Estimates

Republic First Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRBK) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. Revenues and losses per share were both better than expected, with revenues of US$27m leading estimates by 3.7%. Statutory losses were smaller than the analystsexpected, coming in at US$0.01 per share. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

View our latest analysis for Republic First Bancorp

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Republic First Bancorp's dual analysts is for revenues of US$135.8m in 2020, which would reflect a substantial 33% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Losses are expected to hold steady at around US$0.077. Before this latest report, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$111.0m and US$0.20 per share in losses. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a sizeable upgrade to this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

The consensus price target rose 18% to US$3.25, with the analysts encouraged by the higher revenue and lower forecast losses for next year.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. The analysts are definitely expecting Republic First Bancorp'sgrowth to accelerate, with the forecast 33% growth ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 19% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 2.9% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Republic First Bancorp to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that the analysts made no changes to their forecasts for a loss next year. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2021, which can be seen for free on our platform here.

You should always think about risks though. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Republic First Bancorp you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit unpleasant.

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