One Analyst's Revenue Estimates For Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) Are Surging Higher

Shareholders in Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHX) may be thrilled to learn that the covering analyst has just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term forecasts. The analyst has sharply increased their revenue numbers, with a view that Athersys will make substantially more sales than they'd previously expected.

Following the latest upgrade, the sole analyst covering Athersys provided consensus estimates of US$5.2m revenue in 2022, which would reflect a disturbing 51% decline on its sales over the past 12 months. Per-share losses are expected to creep up to US$0.33. Yet before this consensus update, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of US$2.9m and losses of US$0.36 per share in 2022. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analyst administering a sizeable upgrade to this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

View our latest analysis for Athersys

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. Over the past five years, revenues have declined around 17% annually. Worse, forecasts are essentially predicting the decline to accelerate, with the estimate for an annualised 76% decline in revenue until the end of 2022. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 15% per year. So while a broad number of companies are forecast to grow, unfortunately Athersys is expected to see its sales affected worse than other companies in the industry.

The Bottom Line

The highlight for us was that the consensus reduced its estimated losses this year, perhaps suggesting Athersys is moving incrementally towards profitability. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting revenues to grow slower than the wider market. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Athersys.

The covering analyst is definitely bullish on Athersys, 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 flags 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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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.