Analysts Just Slashed Their CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CEIX) EPS Numbers

The latest analyst coverage could presage a bad day for CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE:CEIX), with the analysts making across-the-board cuts to their statutory estimates that might leave shareholders a little shell-shocked. Both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) estimates were cut sharply as the analysts factored in the latest outlook for the business, concluding that they were too optimistic previously.

Following the latest downgrade, the dual analysts covering CONSOL Energy provided consensus estimates of US$2.0b revenue in 2024, which would reflect a stressful 22% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are supposed to plummet 43% to US$12.65 in the same period. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$2.3b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$16.44 in 2024. Indeed, we can see that the analysts are a lot more bearish about CONSOL Energy's prospects, administering a substantial drop in revenue estimates and slashing their EPS estimates to boot.

View our latest analysis for CONSOL Energy

Despite the cuts to forecast earnings, there was no real change to the US$105 price target, showing that the analysts don't think the changes have a meaningful impact on its intrinsic value.

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. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 22% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2024. That is a notable change from historical growth of 16% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 0.7% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that CONSOL Energy's revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest issue in the new estimates is that analysts have reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds lay ahead for CONSOL Energy. Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that CONSOL Energy's revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. The lack of change in the price target is puzzling in light of the downgrade but, with a serious decline expected this year, we wouldn't be surprised if investors were a bit wary of CONSOL Energy.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have analyst estimates for CONSOL Energy going out as far as 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are downgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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