Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG) Consensus Forecasts Have Become A Little Darker Since Its Latest Report

It's been a sad week for Golar LNG Limited (NASDAQ:GLNG), who've watched their investment drop 10% to US$34.88 in the week since the company reported its quarterly result. The result was fairly weak overall, with revenues of US$65m being 4.0% less than what the analysts had been modelling. 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've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

View our latest analysis for Golar LNG

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Golar LNG from four analysts is for revenues of US$454.6m in 2025. If met, it would imply a sizeable 66% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to jump 1,257% to US$1.76. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$480.9m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.16 in 2025. From this we can that sentiment has definitely become more bearish after the latest results, leading to lower revenue forecasts and a substantial drop in earnings per share estimates.

The analysts made no major changes to their price target of US$45.64, suggesting the downgrades are not expected to have a long-term impact on Golar LNG's valuation. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Golar LNG analyst has a price target of US$56.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$38.00. 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 Golar LNG's past performance and to peers in the same industry. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that Golar LNG is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 50% annualised growth until the end of 2025. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 13% 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 3.1% per year. Not only are Golar LNG'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 to take away is that the analysts downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. They also downgraded Golar LNG's revenue estimates, but industry data suggests that it is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Golar LNG going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here..

It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for Golar LNG (1 shouldn't be ignored!) that you need to take into consideration.

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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.