News Flash: Analysts Just Made A Massive Upgrade To Their CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE:CURO) Forecasts

CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE:CURO) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to next year's statutory forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance.

Following the upgrade, the current consensus from CURO Group Holdings' twin analysts is for revenues of US$1.3b in 2022 which - if met - would reflect a sizeable 69% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to reduce 2.1% to US$2.18 in the same period. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$1.0b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.22 in 2022. 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 CURO Group Holdings

Despite these upgrades, the consensus price target fell 8.6% to US$24.00, perhaps signalling that the uplift in performance is not expected to last. 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. There are some variant perceptions on CURO Group Holdings, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$26.00 and the most bearish at US$22.00 per share. The narrow spread of estimates could suggest that the business' future is relatively easy to value, or that the analysts have a clear view on its prospects.

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. For example, we noticed that CURO Group Holdings' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 52% growth to the end of 2022 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 0.6% a year 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 8.4% per year. So it looks like CURO Group Holdings is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for next year, expecting improving business conditions. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. A lower price target is not intuitively what we would expect from a company whose business prospects are improving - at least judging by these forecasts - but if the underlying fundamentals are strong, CURO Group Holdings could be one for the watch list.

These earnings upgrades look like a sterling endorsement, but before diving in - you should know that we've spotted 4 potential risks with CURO Group Holdings, including recent substantial insider selling. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 3 other risks we've identified .

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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.