Results: Stolt-Nielsen Limited Beat Earnings Expectations And Analysts Now Have New Forecasts

Stolt-Nielsen Limited (OB:SNI) defied analyst predictions to release its quarterly results, which were ahead of market expectations. The company beat expectations with revenues of US$750m arriving 6.3% ahead of forecasts. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) were US$0.97, 9.0% ahead of estimates. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

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Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Stolt-Nielsen's five analysts is for revenues of US$3.01b in 2026. This would reflect a satisfactory 5.6% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to dip 5.0% to US$3.98 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$2.91b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.45 in 2026. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analysts upgrading revenues and making a decent improvement in earnings per share in particular.

Check out our latest analysis for Stolt-Nielsen

Althoughthe analysts have upgraded their earnings estimates, there was no change to the consensus price target of kr340, suggesting that the forecast performance does not have a long term impact on the company's 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. The most optimistic Stolt-Nielsen analyst has a price target of kr392 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at kr280. We would probably assign less value to the analyst forecasts in this situation, because such a wide range of estimates could imply that the future of this business is difficult to value accurately. As a result it might not be a great idea to make decisions based on the consensus price target, which is after all just an average of this wide range of estimates.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. The analysts are definitely expecting Stolt-Nielsen's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 12% annualised growth to the end of 2026 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 5.3% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue shrink 0.8% per year. So it's clear with the acceleration in growth, Stolt-Nielsen is expected to grow meaningfully faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around Stolt-Nielsen's earnings potential next year. On the plus side, they also lifted their revenue estimates, and the company is expected to perform better than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at kr340, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have estimates - from multiple Stolt-Nielsen analysts - going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Even so, be aware that Stolt-Nielsen is showing 4 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 2 of those are concerning...

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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.