Celebrations may be in order for ADC Therapeutics SA (NYSE:ADCT) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. The analysts greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals.

Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for ADC Therapeutics from its six analysts is for revenues of US$159m in 2022 which, if met, would be a major 98% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. The loss per share is expected to ameliorate slightly, reducing to US$2.42. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$132m and losses of US$2.82 per share in 2022. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a sizeable upgrade to this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for ADC Therapeutics

The consensus price target fell 7.3%, to US$27.80, suggesting that the analysts remain pessimistic on the company, despite the improved earnings and revenue outlook. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on ADC Therapeutics, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$44.00 and the most bearish at US$16.00 per share. With such a wide range in price targets, the analysts are almost certainly betting on widely diverse outcomes for the underlying business. As a result it might not be possible to derive much meaning from the consensus price target, which is after all just an average of this wide range of estimates.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. The period to the end of 2022 brings more of the same, according to the analysts, with revenue forecast to display 149% growth on an annualised basis. That is in line with its 134% annual growth 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 revenues grow 14% per year. So although ADC Therapeutics is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's definitely expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The highlight for us was that the consensus reduced its estimated losses this year, perhaps suggesting ADC Therapeutics is moving incrementally towards profitability. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. A lower price target is not intuitively what we would expect from a company whose business prospects are improving - at least judging by these forecasts - but if the underlying fundamentals are strong, ADC Therapeutics could be one for the watch list.