Health Catalyst, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCAT) Just Released Its First-Quarter Results And Analysts Are Updating Their Estimates

It's been a good week for Health Catalyst, Inc. (NASDAQ:HCAT) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest quarterly results, and the shares gained 4.8% to US$4.18. Revenues came in at US$79m, in line with expectations, while statutory losses per share were substantially higher than expected, at US$0.35 per share. 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. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

We've discovered 2 warning signs about Health Catalyst. View them for free.

Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Health Catalyst's 13 analysts is for revenues of US$334.2m in 2025. This reflects a reasonable 7.4% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Losses are supposed to decline, shrinking 15% from last year to US$0.88. Before this latest report, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$334.2m and US$0.88 per share in losses.

Check out our latest analysis for Health Catalyst

As a result there was no major change to the consensus price target of US$8.09, implying that the business is trading roughly in line with expectations despite ongoing losses. 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 Health Catalyst, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$16.00 and the most bearish at US$5.00 per share. We would probably assign less value to the analyst forecasts in this situation, because such a wide range of estimates could imply that the future of this business is difficult to value accurately. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. The period to the end of 2025 brings more of the same, according to the analysts, with revenue forecast to display 9.9% growth on an annualised basis. That is in line with its 12% annual growth over the past five years. Juxtapose this against our data, which suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 10% per year. It's clear that while Health Catalyst's revenue growth is expected to continue on its current trajectory, it's only expected to grow in line with the industry itself.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that the analysts made no changes to their forecasts for a loss next year. Happily, there were no real changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow in line with the overall 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 in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Health Catalyst. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have forecasts for Health Catalyst going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Health Catalyst is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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