Analysts Just Published A Bright New Outlook For Cross Country Healthcare, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:CCRN)

Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with the analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Cross Country Healthcare has also found favour with investors, with the stock up a notable 23% to US$17.15 over the past week. We'll be curious to see if these new estimates convince the market to lift the stock price higher still.

Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for Cross Country Healthcare from its eight analysts is for revenues of US$1.1b in 2021 which, if met, would be a notable 18% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to bounce 464% to US$1.34. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$952m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.70 in 2021. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

See our latest analysis for Cross Country Healthcare

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 12% to US$14.42 per share. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Cross Country Healthcare, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$17.00 and the most bearish at US$12.00 per share. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's clear from the latest estimates that Cross Country Healthcare's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 25% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2021 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 1.1% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.9% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Cross Country Healthcare is expected to grow much faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Cross Country Healthcare could be worth investigating further.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Cross Country Healthcare going out to 2022, and you can see them free on our platform here..

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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