Last week saw the newest annual earnings release from SFS Group AG (VTX:SFSN), an important milestone in the company's journey to build a stronger business. It looks like the results were a bit of a negative overall. While revenues of CHF3.1b were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings were less than expected, missing estimates by 2.7% to hit CHF6.84 per share. The analysts typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on SFS Group after the latest results.

Check out our latest analysis for SFS Group

Taking into account the latest results, SFS Group's six analysts currently expect revenues in 2024 to be CHF3.12b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to rise 6.2% to CHF7.26. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of CHF3.13b and earnings per share (EPS) of CHF7.28 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.

The analysts reconfirmed their price target of CHF112, showing that the business is executing well and in line with 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 SFS Group at CHF130 per share, while the most bearish prices it at CHF85.00. 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.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the SFS Group's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that SFS Group's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 0.2% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 14% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 5.9% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that SFS Group is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.