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It's been a good week for CRH plc (NYSE:CRH) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest annual results, and the shares gained 2.2% to US$103. It looks like the results were a bit of a negative overall. While revenues of US$36b were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings were less than expected, missing estimates by 7.6% to hit US$5.02 per share. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
View our latest analysis for CRH
Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for CRH from 18 analysts is for revenues of US$37.8b in 2025. If met, it would imply a reasonable 6.2% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to climb 14% to US$5.85. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$38.4b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$5.93 in 2025. 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.
There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$115, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. 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. The most optimistic CRH analyst has a price target of US$130 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$90.00. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view.
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. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of CRH'shistorical trends, as the 6.2% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 is roughly in line with the 6.5% annual growth over the past five years. Compare this with the broader industry, which analyst estimates (in aggregate) suggest will see revenues grow 6.3% annually. So although CRH is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's only growing at about the rate of the wider industry.