Acorda Therapeutics, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:ACOR) Sole Analyst Just Made A Huge Upgrade To Their Forecasts

Acorda Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACOR) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the covering analyst making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects.

Following the upgrade, the consensus from lone analyst covering Acorda Therapeutics is for revenues of US$96m in 2021, implying a stressful 37% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Losses are forecast to hold steady at around US$12.17. Yet prior to the latest estimates, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of US$65m and losses of US$14.61 per share in 2021. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analyst making a sizeable increase to their revenue forecasts while also reducing the estimated loss as the business grows towards breakeven.

Check out our latest analysis for Acorda Therapeutics

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analyst has increased their price target for Acorda Therapeutics 25% to US$5.00 on the back of these upgrades.

Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. One more thing stood out to us about these estimates, and it's the idea that Acorda Therapeutics' decline is expected to accelerate, with revenues forecast to fall at an annualised rate of 37% to the end of 2021. This tops off a historical decline of 21% a year over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 18% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while it does have declining revenues, the analyst also expect Acorda Therapeutics to suffer worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The highlight for us was that the consensus reduced its estimated losses this year, perhaps suggesting Acorda Therapeutics is moving incrementally towards profitability. Pleasantly, the analyst also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow slower than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Acorda Therapeutics could be worth investigating further.

The covering analyst is definitely bullish on Acorda Therapeutics, but no company is perfect. Indeed, you should know that there are several potential concerns to be aware of, including a short cash runway. You can learn more, and discover the 3 other concerns we've identified, for 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 upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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