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Baxter International Inc. (NYSE:BAX) just released its latest quarterly results and things are looking bullish. The company beat expectations with revenues of US$3.0b arriving 4.8% ahead of forecasts. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) were US$0.69, 6.2% ahead of estimates. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.
View our latest analysis for Baxter International
Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Baxter International from 18 analysts is for revenues of US$12.1b in 2021 which, if met, would be a satisfactory 5.1% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to soar 89% to US$3.39. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$12.1b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.43 in 2021. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.
It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at US$93.39. 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. There are some variant perceptions on Baxter International, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$105 and the most bearish at US$73.00 per share. 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.
Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that Baxter International's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 5.1% revenue growth noticeably faster than its historical growth of 3.2%p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 9.5% per year. So it's clear that despite the acceleration in growth, Baxter International is expected to grow meaningfully slower than the industry average.