Ramaco Resources, Inc. (NASDAQ:METC) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with the analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. Investors have been pretty optimistic on Ramaco Resources too, with the stock up 25% to US$8.21 over the past week. Could this upgrade be enough to drive the stock even higher?

After this upgrade, Ramaco Resources' five analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$255m in 2021. This would be a sizeable 21% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to jump 595% to US$0.73. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$222m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.49 in 2021. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for Ramaco Resources

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 26% to US$7.85 per share. 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 Ramaco Resources at US$9.50 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$5.25. 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. The analysts are definitely expecting Ramaco Resources' growth to accelerate, with the forecast 47% annualised growth to the end of 2021 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 31% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue shrink 0.3% per year. So it's clear with the acceleration in growth, Ramaco Resources is expected to grow meaningfully 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. Fortunately, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are 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, Ramaco Resources could be worth investigating further.