News Flash: Analysts Just Made A Huge Upgrade To Their Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) Forecasts

Agenus Inc. (NASDAQ:AGEN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to next year's statutory forecasts. The analysts greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals.

After the upgrade, the five analysts covering Agenus are now predicting revenues of US$197m in 2024. If met, this would reflect a sizeable 96% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. The loss per share is anticipated to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 25% to US$0.54. Yet prior to the latest estimates, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$110m and losses of US$0.69 per share in 2024. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a sizeable upgrade to next year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

See our latest analysis for Agenus

Yet despite these upgrades, the analysts cut their price target 17% to US$6.67, implicitly signalling that the ongoing losses are likely to weigh negatively on Agenus' valuation.

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 Agenus' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 71% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 13% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 15% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Agenus to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The highlight for us was that the consensus reduced its estimated losses next year, perhaps suggesting Agenus is moving incrementally towards profitability. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for next year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. A lower price target is not intuitively what we would expect from a company whose business prospects are improving - at least judging by these forecasts - but if the underlying fundamentals are strong, Agenus could be one for the watch list.

Analysts are clearly in love with Agenus at the moment, but before diving in - you should be aware that we've identified some warning flags with the business, such as dilutive stock issuance over the past year. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 4 other warning signs 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.