Broker Revenue Forecasts For AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB) Are Surging Higher

AnaptysBio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANAB) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The consensus estimated revenue numbers rose, with their view now clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects.

Following the latest upgrade, the six analysts covering AnaptysBio provided consensus estimates of US$12m revenue in 2022, which would reflect a disturbing 49% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. Per-share losses are expected to see a sharp uptick, reaching US$4.29. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$12m and losses of US$4.48 per share in 2022. It looks like there's been a modest increase in sentiment in the recent updates, with the analysts becoming a bit more optimistic in their predictions for both revenues and losses per share.

View our latest analysis for AnaptysBio

Yet despite these upgrades, the analysts cut their price target 14% to US$25.67, implicitly signalling that the ongoing losses are likely to weigh negatively on AnaptysBio's valuation. 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. The most optimistic AnaptysBio analyst has a price target of US$50.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$21.00. As you can see the range of estimates is wide, with the lowest valuation coming in at less than half the most bullish estimate, suggesting there are some strongly diverging views on how think this business will perform. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily on the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the AnaptysBio's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 74% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2022. That is a notable change from historical growth of 49% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 16% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - AnaptysBio is expected to lag the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that analysts reduced their loss per share estimates for this year, reflecting increased optimism around AnaptysBio's prospects. Pleasantly, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow slower than the wider market. Furthermore, there was a cut to the price target, suggesting that the latest news has led to more pessimism about the intrinsic value of the business. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at AnaptysBio.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have estimates - from multiple AnaptysBio analysts - going out to 2024, and you can see them 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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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.