Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACCD) Just Reported And Analysts Have Been Lifting Their Price Targets

Accolade, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACCD) last week reported its latest quarterly results, which makes it a good time for investors to dive in and see if the business is performing in line with expectations. Revenues of US$60m beat expectations by a respectable 6.7%, although statutory losses per share increased. Accolade lost US$0.84, which was 128% more than what the analysts had included in their models. 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. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

View our latest analysis for Accolade

After the latest results, the ten analysts covering Accolade are now predicting revenues of US$303.6m in 2022. If met, this would reflect a major 57% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Losses are expected to hold steady at around US$2.05. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$299.9m and losses of US$1.15 per share in 2022. While this year's revenue estimates held steady, there was also a regrettable increase in loss per share expectations, suggesting the consensus has a bit of a mixed view on the stock.

Despite expectations of heavier losses next year,the analysts have lifted their price target 8.8% to US$63.56, perhaps implying these losses are not expected to be recurring over the long term. 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 Accolade analyst has a price target of US$70.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$58.00. Still, with such a tight range of estimates, it suggeststhe analysts have a pretty good idea of what they think the company is worth.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Accolade's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Accolade's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 82% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2022 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 39% over the past year. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 7.5% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Accolade to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts increased their loss per share estimates for next year. Fortunately, they also reconfirmed their revenue numbers, suggesting sales are tracking in line with expectations - and our data suggests that revenues are expected to grow faster than the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.

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 Accolade analysts - going out to 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Before you take the next step you should know about the 3 warning signs for Accolade that we have uncovered.

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