Analysts Have Been Trimming Their Markforged Holding Corporation (NYSE:MKFG) Price Target After Its Latest Report

Markforged Holding Corporation (NYSE:MKFG) just released its yearly report and things are looking bullish. Markforged Holding beat expectations with revenues of US$94m arriving 2.9% ahead of forecasts. The company also reported a statutory loss of US$0.53, 3.6% smaller than was expected. 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. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

See our latest analysis for Markforged Holding

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Markforged Holding's four analysts is for revenues of US$97.6m in 2024. This would reflect a reasonable 4.1% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 42% to US$0.30. Before this latest report, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$95.2m and US$0.32 per share in losses. It looks like there's been a modest increase in sentiment in the recent updates, with the analysts becoming a bit more optimistic in their predictions for both revenues and losses per share.

Yet despite these upgrades, the analysts cut their price target 34% to US$1.32, implicitly signalling that the ongoing losses are likely to weigh negatively on Markforged Holding's valuation. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. The most optimistic Markforged Holding analyst has a price target of US$1.50 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$1.00. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Markforged Holding's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Markforged Holding's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2024 expected to display 4.1% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 10% over the past three years. Compare this to the 180 other companies in this industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenue at 3.4% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while Markforged Holding's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's expected to grow roughly in line with the industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that the analysts made no changes to their forecasts for a loss next year. There was also an upgrade to revenue estimates, although as we saw earlier, forecast growth is only expected to be about the same as the wider industry. Furthermore, the analysts also cut their price targets, suggesting that the latest news has led to greater pessimism about the intrinsic value of the business.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Markforged Holding going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here..

You still need to take note of risks, for example - Markforged Holding has 2 warning signs we think you should be aware of.

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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.