Upgrade: Analysts Just Made A Huge Increase To Their Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) Forecasts

Celebrations may be in order for Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investor sentiment seems to be improving too, with the share price up 4.9% to US$22.33 over the past 7 days. It will be interesting to see if this latest upgrade is enough to kickstart further buying interest in the stock.

Following the upgrade, the current consensus from Cross Country Healthcare's six analysts is for revenues of US$2.2b in 2022 which - if met - would reflect a sizeable 32% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are anticipated to plunge 21% to US$2.75 in the same period. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$1.7b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.76 in 2022. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

View our latest analysis for Cross Country Healthcare

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analysts have increased their price target for Cross Country Healthcare 18% to US$35.00 on the back of these upgrades. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Cross Country Healthcare at US$44.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$27.00. This shows there is still some 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 Cross Country Healthcare's past performance and to peers in the same industry. The analysts are definitely expecting Cross Country Healthcare's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 32% annualised growth to the end of 2022 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 8.0% per annum 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 7.5% 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 most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. 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.

These earnings upgrades look like a sterling endorsement, but before diving in - you should know that we've spotted 4 potential warning sign with Cross Country Healthcare, including concerns around earnings quality. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 1 other warning sign we've identified .

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

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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.