Analysts Are Updating Their RS Group plc (LON:RS1) Estimates After Its Half-Yearly Results

Last week saw the newest half-year earnings release from RS Group plc (LON:RS1), an important milestone in the company's journey to build a stronger business. Results overall were respectable, with statutory earnings of UK£0.35 per share roughly in line with what the analysts had forecast. Revenues of UK£1.5b came in 3.6% ahead of analyst predictions. 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. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

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Following last week's earnings report, RS Group's 16 analysts are forecasting 2027 revenues to be UK£3.08b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to increase 4.2% to UK£0.38. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of UK£3.02b and earnings per share (EPS) of UK£0.38 in 2027. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.

See our latest analysis for RS Group

The analysts reconfirmed their price target of UK£7.93, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. 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 RS Group analyst has a price target of UK£9.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at UK£5.45. 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 RS Group shareholders.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the RS Group's past performance and to peers in the same industry. The analysts are definitely expecting RS Group's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 3.7% annualised growth to the end of 2027 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 2.9% per annum 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 5.6% per year. So it's clear that despite the acceleration in growth, RS Group is expected to grow meaningfully slower than the industry average.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that RS Group's revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at UK£7.93, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on RS Group. 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 RS Group going out to 2029, and you can see them free on our platform here..

It might also be worth considering whether RS Group's debt load is appropriate, using our debt analysis tools on the Simply Wall St platform, here.

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