Yahoo Finance Mettler-Toledo International Inc. Just Reported Full-Year Earnings: Have Analysts Changed Their Mind On The Stock?
Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (NYSE:MTD) came out with its yearly results last week, and we wanted to see how the business is performing and what top analysts think of the company following this report. Mettler-Toledo International reported in line with analyst predictions, delivering revenues of US$3.0b and statutory earnings per share of US$22.47, suggesting the business is executing well and in line with its plan. Following the result, analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. We thought readers would find it interesting to see analysts' latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
Check out our latest analysis for Mettler-Toledo International
After the latest results, the ten analysts covering Mettler-Toledo International are now predicting revenues of US$3.11b in 2020. If met, this would reflect a reasonable 3.3% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to accumulate 6.5% to US$24.31. In the lead-up to this report, analysts had been modelling revenues of US$3.11b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$24.73 in 2020. 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.
There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$751, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Mettler-Toledo International analyst has a price target of US$850 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$450. 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.
Zooming out to look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up both against past performance, and against industry growth estimates. It's pretty clear that analysts expect Mettler-Toledo International's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues next year expected to grow 3.3%, compared to a historical growth rate of 5.2% over the past five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the market, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 7.9% next year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, analysts still expect the wider market to grow faster than Mettler-Toledo International.
The Bottom Line
The most obvious conclusion from these results is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with analysts holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although analyst forecasts imply revenues will perform worse than the wider market. 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. We have forecasts for Mettler-Toledo International going out to 2022, and you can see them free on our platform here.
You can also see whether Mettler-Toledo International is carrying too much debt, and whether its balance sheet is healthy, for free on our platform here.
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