Yahoo Finance Analysts Just Published A Bright New Outlook For OraSure Technologies, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:OSUR)
OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSUR) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects. The market may be pricing in some blue sky too, with the share price gaining 44% to US$4.56 in the last 7 days. Could this upgrade be enough to drive the stock even higher?
Following the upgrade, the current consensus from OraSure Technologies' five analysts is for revenues of US$329m in 2022 which - if met - would reflect a major 24% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. The loss per share is anticipated to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 62% to US$0.33. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$296m and losses of US$0.44 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.
Check out our latest analysis for OraSure Technologies
Yet despite these upgrades, the analysts cut their price target 15% to US$5.33, implicitly signalling that the ongoing losses are likely to weigh negatively on OraSure Technologies' valuation. 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. There are some variant perceptions on OraSure Technologies, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$7.00 and the most bearish at US$4.00 per share. This shows there is still some diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation.
Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. It's clear from the latest estimates that OraSure Technologies' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 54% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2022 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 10% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 7.9% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect OraSure Technologies 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 OraSure Technologies' prospects. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. The declining price target is a puzzle, but still - with a serious upgrade to this year's expectations, it might be time to take another look at OraSure Technologies.
Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. We have estimates - from multiple OraSure Technologies 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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
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