Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM) Consensus Forecasts Have Become A Little Darker Since Its Latest Report

It's shaping up to be a tough period for Beam Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:BEAM), which a week ago released some disappointing third-quarter results that could have a notable impact on how the market views the stock. Earnings missed the mark badly, with revenues of US$307k falling 97% short of expectations. Losses correspondingly increased, with a US$1.28 per-share statutory loss some 11% larger than what the analysts expected. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Beam Therapeutics after the latest results.

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Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus, from the 13 analysts covering Beam Therapeutics, is for revenues of US$30.7m in 2027. This implies a painful 79% reduction in Beam Therapeutics' revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share losses are expected to explode, reaching US$5.06 per share. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$60.9m and losses of US$4.82 per share in 2027. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, withthe analysts making a serious cut to their revenue outlook while also expecting losses per share to increase.

See our latest analysis for Beam Therapeutics

The average price target was broadly unchanged at US$49.23, perhaps implicitly signalling that the weaker earnings outlook is not expected to have a long-term impact on the valuation. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic Beam Therapeutics analyst has a price target of US$80.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$26.00. With such a wide range in price targets, analysts are almost certainly betting on widely divergent outcomes in the underlying business. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Beam Therapeutics' past performance and to peers in the same industry. These estimates imply that revenue is expected to slow, with a forecast annualised decline of 71% by the end of 2027. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 15% over the last five years. Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 21% per year. It's pretty clear that Beam Therapeutics' revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to note is the forecast of increased losses next year, suggesting all may not be well at Beam Therapeutics. On the negative side, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and forecasts imply they will perform worse 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.

With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Beam Therapeutics. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Beam Therapeutics going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..

You should always think about risks though. Case in point, we've spotted 2 warning signs for Beam Therapeutics you should be aware of, and 1 of them is a bit concerning.

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