Analyst Estimates: Here's What Brokers Think Of Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:FRGE) After Its Second-Quarter Report

Forge Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:FRGE) just released its latest second-quarter results and things are looking bullish. Results overall were solid, with revenues arriving 9.1% better than analyst forecasts at US$22m. Higher revenues also resulted in substantially lower statutory losses which, at US$0.08 per share, were 9.1% smaller than the analysts 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. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Forge Global Holdings after the latest results.

See our latest analysis for Forge Global Holdings

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Forge Global Holdings' six analysts is for revenues of US$89.1m in 2024. This would reflect a solid 13% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Losses are expected to be contained, narrowing 19% from last year to US$0.34. Before this earnings announcement, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$87.3m and losses of US$0.41 per share in 2024. While the revenue estimates were largely unchanged, sentiment seems to have improved, with the analysts upgrading their numbers and making a favorable reduction in losses per share in particular.

There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$3.88, suggesting that reduced loss estimates are not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. 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. The most optimistic Forge Global Holdings analyst has a price target of US$7.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$2.00. We would probably assign less value to the analyst forecasts in this situation, because such a wide range of estimates could imply that the future of this business is difficult to value accurately. As a result it might not be a great idea to make decisions based on the consensus price target, which is after all just an average of this wide range of estimates.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that Forge Global Holdings is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 27% annualised growth until the end of 2024. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 23% annual decline over the past three years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 5.3% per year. So it looks like Forge Global Holdings is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that the analysts made no changes to their forecasts for a loss 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$3.88, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that 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 Forge Global Holdings going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here..

And what about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Forge Global Holdings 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.