Yahoo Finance Stericycle, Inc. Just Missed Earnings - But Analysts Have Updated Their Models
Shareholders might have noticed that Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRCL) filed its quarterly result this time last week. The early response was not positive, with shares down 7.2% to US$46.31 in the past week. It looks like a pretty bad result, all things considered. Although revenues of US$665m were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings fell badly short, missing estimates by 53% to hit US$0.14 per share. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.
View our latest analysis for Stericycle
Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Stericycle's seven analysts is for revenues of US$2.70b in 2024. This reflects a credible 2.3% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Stericycle is also expected to turn profitable, with statutory earnings of US$1.32 per share. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$2.73b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.34 in 2024. 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.
The consensus price target rose 15% to US$61.80despite there being no meaningful change to earnings estimates. It could be that the analystsare reflecting the predictability of Stericycle's earnings by assigning a price premium. 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. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Stericycle at US$75.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$50.00. 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.
These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Stericycle's past performance and to peers in the same industry. For example, we noticed that Stericycle's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 3.0% growth to the end of 2024 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 5.3% a year over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 6.7% per year. So although Stericycle's revenue growth is expected to improve, it is still expected to grow slower than the industry.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.
Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Stericycle going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here..
Before you take the next step you should know about the 1 warning sign for Stericycle that we have uncovered.
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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.
