Legrand SA (EPA:LR) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. The company beat expectations with revenues of €2.9b arriving 9.7% ahead of forecasts. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) were €1.38, 3.1% ahead of estimates. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. 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 current consensus from Legrand's 17 analysts is for revenues of €12.5b in 2027. This would reflect a decent 16% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to ascend 19% to €6.44. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of €12.4b and earnings per share (EPS) of €6.38 in 2027. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.
View our latest analysis for Legrand
It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at €171. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. The most optimistic Legrand analyst has a price target of €200 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at €120. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.
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 Legrand's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 12% annualised growth to the end of 2027 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 7.0% 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 9.2% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Legrand is expected to grow much faster than its industry.
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. Happily, there were no major changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected 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.
With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Legrand going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..
That said, it's still necessary to consider the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 1 warning sign with Legrand , and understanding this should be part of your investment process.
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