Need To Know: Analysts Are Much More Bullish On Immunocore Holdings plc (NASDAQ:IMCR)

Celebrations may be in order for Immunocore Holdings plc (NASDAQ:IMCR) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with the analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investor sentiment seems to be improving too, with the share price up 5.0% to US$52.56 over the past 7 days. Could this big upgrade push the stock even higher?

After this upgrade, Immunocore Holdings' seven analysts are now forecasting revenues of UK£120m in 2022. This would be a huge 80% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. The loss per share is anticipated to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 51% to UK£1.02. Yet prior to the latest estimates, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of UK£79m and losses of UK£2.08 per share in 2022. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a sizeable upgrade to this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

See our latest analysis for Immunocore Holdings

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analysts have increased their price target for Immunocore Holdings 8.8% to UK£52.90 on the back of these upgrades. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Immunocore Holdings at UK£84.86 per share, while the most bearish prices it at UK£32.35. This is a fairly broad spread of estimates, suggesting that the analysts are forecasting a wide range of possible outcomes for 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 Immunocore Holdings' past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Immunocore Holdings' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 223% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2022 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 139% over the past year. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 15% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Immunocore Holdings to grow faster than 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 Immunocore Holdings' prospects. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Immunocore Holdings could be worth investigating further.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Immunocore Holdings 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.