SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. Beat Analyst Estimates: See What The Consensus Is Forecasting For This Year

A week ago, SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:SEAS) came out with a strong set of second-quarter numbers that could potentially lead to a re-rate of the stock. Statutory earnings performance was extremely strong, with revenue of US$440m beating expectations by 30% and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.59, an impressive 446%ahead of expectations. The analysts typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on SeaWorld Entertainment after the latest results.

Check out our latest analysis for SeaWorld Entertainment

After the latest results, the ten analysts covering SeaWorld Entertainment are now predicting revenues of US$1.49b in 2021. If met, this would reflect a substantial 70% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. SeaWorld Entertainment is also expected to turn profitable, with statutory earnings of US$3.03 per share. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$1.27b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.77 in 2021. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in sentiment following the latest results, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

Althoughthe analysts have upgraded their earnings estimates, there was no change to the consensus price target of US$62.30, suggesting that the forecast performance does not have a long term impact on the company's valuation. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic SeaWorld Entertainment analyst has a price target of US$79.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$47.00. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the SeaWorld Entertainment's past performance and to peers in the same industry. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that SeaWorld Entertainment is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 191% annualised growth until the end of 2021. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 12% annual decline over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 20% per year. Not only are SeaWorld Entertainment's revenues expected to improve, it seems that the analysts are also expecting it to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards SeaWorld Entertainment following these results. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$62.30, 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 estimates - from multiple SeaWorld Entertainment analysts - going out to 2023, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that SeaWorld Entertainment is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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