Yahoo Finance Brokers Are Upgrading Their Views On New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:NFE) With These New Forecasts
New Fortress Energy Inc. (NASDAQ:NFE) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investors have been pretty optimistic on New Fortress Energy too, with the stock up 19% to US$58.41 over the past week. Could this upgrade be enough to drive the stock even higher?
Following the upgrade, the latest consensus from New Fortress Energy's four analysts is for revenues of US$2.4b in 2022, which would reflect a meaningful 18% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to leap 141% to US$2.43. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$2.2b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.27 in 2022. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.
Check out our latest analysis for New Fortress Energy
With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 6.2% to US$60.38 per share. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. Currently, the most bullish analyst values New Fortress Energy at US$73.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$54.00. 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.
Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that New Fortress Energy's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2022 expected to display 40% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 85% over the past three years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue shrink 5.6% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it's pretty clear that New Fortress Energy is still expected to grow faster than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. On the plus side, they also lifted their revenue estimates, and the company is expected to perform better than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, New Fortress Energy could be worth investigating further.
Still, 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 New Fortress Energy going out to 2024, and you can see them free on our platform here..
Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.
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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.
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