In This Article:
Investors in Veralto Corporation (NYSE:VLTO) had a good week, as its shares rose 6.6% to close at US$107 following the release of its quarterly results. Veralto reported US$1.3b in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.81 beat expectations, being 5.7% higher than what the analysts expected. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.
Check out our latest analysis for Veralto
Following last week's earnings report, Veralto's 13 analysts are forecasting 2024 revenues to be US$5.18b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory per-share earnings are expected to be US$3.25, roughly flat on the last 12 months. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$5.15b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.25 in 2024. 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.
With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 8.4% to US$112. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Veralto at US$125 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$100.00. With such a narrow range of valuations, the analysts apparently share similar views on what they think the business is worth.
These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Veralto's past performance and to peers in the same industry. The analysts are definitely expecting Veralto's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 4.0% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 2.7% per annum over the past year. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.5% per year. So it's clear that despite the acceleration in growth, Veralto is expected to grow meaningfully slower than the industry average.