Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPNT) Analysts Just Slashed This Year's Estimates

One thing we could say about the analysts on Opiant Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:OPNT) - they aren't optimistic, having just made a major negative revision to their near-term (statutory) forecasts for the organization. Revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts were both revised downwards, with analysts seeing grey clouds on the horizon. Bidders are definitely seeing a different story, with the stock price of US$13.48 reflecting a 14% rise in the past week. It will be interesting to see if the downgrade has an impact on buying demand for the company's shares.

Following the downgrade, the consensus from four analysts covering Opiant Pharmaceuticals is for revenues of US$15m in 2022, implying a painful 62% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Losses are supposed to balloon 92% to US$7.35 per share. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$19m and losses of US$6.21 per share in 2022. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analysts making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also expecting losses per share to increase.

Check out our latest analysis for Opiant Pharmaceuticals

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. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 85% by the end of 2022. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 14% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 3.5% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that Opiant Pharmaceuticals' revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that analysts increased their loss per share estimates for this year. Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that Opiant Pharmaceuticals' revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. Given the serious cut to this year's outlook, it's clear that analysts have turned more bearish on Opiant Pharmaceuticals, and we wouldn't blame shareholders for feeling a little more cautious themselves.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have estimates - from multiple Opiant Pharmaceuticals analysts - going out to 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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