Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE) After Its First-Quarter Results

The analysts might have been a bit too bullish on Bloom Energy Corporation (NYSE:BE), given that the company fell short of expectations when it released its quarterly results last week. Revenues missed expectations somewhat, coming in at US$235m, but statutory earnings fell catastrophically short, with a loss of US$0.25 some 34% larger than what the analysts had predicted. 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 thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

View our latest analysis for Bloom Energy

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Bloom Energy from 28 analysts is for revenues of US$1.47b in 2024. If met, it would imply a notable 14% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Losses are predicted to fall substantially, shrinking 85% to US$0.20. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$1.48b and losses of US$0.19 per share in 2024.

As a result there was no major change to the consensus price target of US$16.08, implying that the business is trading roughly in line with expectations despite ongoing losses. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on Bloom Energy, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$32.00 and the most bearish at US$9.00 per share. So we wouldn't be assigning too much credibility to analyst price targets in this case, because there are clearly some widely different views on what kind of performance this business can generate. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Bloom Energy's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of Bloom Energy'shistorical trends, as the 19% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 is roughly in line with the 16% annual growth over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 7.6% per year. So although Bloom Energy is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's definitely expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts reconfirmed their loss per share estimates for next year. Happily, there were no major changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow faster than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$16.08, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have forecasts for Bloom Energy going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Bloom Energy is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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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.