EN
Results: WESCO International, Inc. Beat Earnings Expectations And Analysts Now Have New Forecasts
WESCO International, Inc. (NYSE:WCC) defied analyst predictions to release its third-quarter results, which were ahead of market expectations. WESCO International beat earnings, with revenues hitting US$7.2b, ahead of expectations, and statutory earnings per share outperforming analyst reckonings by a solid 17%. 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. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from WESCO International's ten analysts is for revenues of US$29.0b in 2027. This reflects a meaningful 12% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to surge 34% to US$21.90. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$27.9b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$19.83 in 2027. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analysts upgrading revenues and making a nice gain to earnings per share in particular.
View our latest analysis for WESCO International
Despite these upgrades,the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of US$418, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. 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 WESCO International analyst has a price target of US$450 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$283. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.
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. It's clear from the latest estimates that WESCO International's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 9.1% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2027 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 5.4% 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 7.2% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect WESCO International to grow faster than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards WESCO International following these results. Happily, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting them to grow faster than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.
Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for WESCO International going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..
It is also worth noting that we have found 2 warning signs for WESCO International (1 is significant!) that you need to take into consideration.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.