New Forecasts: Here's What Analysts Think The Future Holds For Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE)

Shareholders in Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (NASDAQ:EGLE) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term forecasts. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with the analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline.

After the upgrade, the consensus from Eagle Bulk Shipping's six analysts is for revenues of US$623m in 2022, which would reflect a not inconsiderable 17% decline in sales compared to the last year of performance. Statutory earnings per share are anticipated to nosedive 28% to US$17.45 in the same period. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$552m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$17.32 in 2022. It seems analyst sentiment has certainly become more bullish on revenues, even though they haven't changed their view on earnings per share.

See our latest analysis for Eagle Bulk Shipping

It may not be a surprise to see that the analysts have reconfirmed their price target of US$72.29, implying that the uplift in sales is not expected to greatly contribute to Eagle Bulk Shipping's valuation in the near term. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Eagle Bulk Shipping analyst has a price target of US$85.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$50.00. Analysts definitely have varying views on the business, but the spread of estimates is not wide enough in our view to suggest that extreme outcomes could await Eagle Bulk Shipping shareholders.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Eagle Bulk Shipping's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 31% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2022. That is a notable change from historical growth of 22% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue decline 8.5% annually for the foreseeable future. The forecasts do look bearish for Eagle Bulk Shipping, since they're expecting it to shrink faster than the industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion from this consensus update is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with analysts holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. Notably, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, with sales performing well although Eagle Bulk Shipping's revenue growth is expected to trail that of the wider market. Given that analysts appear to be expecting substantial improvement in the sales pipeline, now could be the right time to take another look at Eagle Bulk Shipping.

Analysts are clearly in love with Eagle Bulk Shipping at the moment, but before diving in - you should be aware that we've identified some warning flags with the business, such as recent substantial insider selling. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 2 other flags we've identified .

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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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.