One thing we could say about the analysts on NantHealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:NH) - they aren't optimistic, having just made a major negative revision to their near-term (statutory) forecasts for the organization. Both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts went under the knife, suggesting analysts have soured majorly on the business.
Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the twin analysts covering NantHealth, is for revenues of US$69m in 2021, which would reflect a discernible 5.2% reduction in NantHealth's sales over the past 12 months. Losses are predicted to fall substantially, shrinking 35% to US$0.52. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$79m and losses of US$0.41 per share in 2021. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analysts making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also expecting losses per share to increase.
See our latest analysis for NantHealth
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 5.2% by the end of 2021. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 4.6% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 17% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that NantHealth's revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing to take away is that analysts increased their loss per share estimates for this year. Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that NantHealth's revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. We wouldn't be surprised to find shareholders feeling a bit shell-shocked, after these downgrades. It looks like analysts have become a lot more bearish on NantHealth, and their negativity could be grounds for caution.
Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have analyst estimates for NantHealth going out as far as 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.
Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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