Forecast: Analysts Think New York Community Bancorp, Inc.'s (NYSE:NYCB) Business Prospects Have Improved Drastically

New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The analysts greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals. New York Community Bancorp has also found favour with investors, with the stock up a remarkable 28% to US$8.76 over the past week. It will be interesting to see if today's upgrade is enough to propel the stock even higher.

After the upgrade, the 13 analysts covering New York Community Bancorp are now predicting revenues of US$3.2b in 2023. If met, this would reflect a major 139% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to soar 51% to US$1.34. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$2.5b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.19 in 2023. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for New York Community Bancorp

Although the analysts have upgraded their earnings estimates, there was no change to the consensus price target of US$10.81, suggesting that the forecast performance does not have a long term impact on the company's valuation. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic New York Community Bancorp analyst has a price target of US$13.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$8.00. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.

Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that New York Community Bancorp's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 139% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2023 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 3.8% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.3% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that New York Community Bancorp is expected to grow much faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. Some investors might be disappointed to see that the price target is unchanged, but we feel that improving fundamentals are usually a positive - assuming these forecasts are met! So New York Community Bancorp could be a good candidate for more research.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for New York Community Bancorp going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here..

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.