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It's been a good week for The Ensign Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ENSG) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest full-year results, and the shares gained 6.5% to US$86.61. Ensign Group reported US$2.4b in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.06 beat expectations, being 2.3% higher than what the analysts expected. 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 Ensign Group after the latest results.
View our latest analysis for Ensign Group
Following the latest results, Ensign Group's three analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$2.67b in 2021. This would be a notable 11% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to rise 9.7% to US$3.50. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$2.67b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.40 in 2021. So the consensus seems to have become somewhat more optimistic on Ensign Group's earnings potential following these results.
The consensus price target rose 8.3% to US$86.67, suggesting that higher earnings estimates flow through to the stock's valuation as well. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Ensign Group analyst has a price target of US$95.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$82.00. The narrow spread of estimates could suggest that the business' future is relatively easy to value, or thatthe analysts have a strong view on its prospects.
Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analysts are definitely expecting Ensign Group's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 11% growth ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 8.8% per annum 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 7.2% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Ensign Group is expected to grow much faster than its industry.