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Crane Company (NYSE:CR) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. The company beat both earnings and revenue forecasts, with revenue of US$514m, some 5.7% above estimates, and statutory earnings per share (EPS) coming in at US$1.08, 28% ahead of expectations. 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. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.
View our latest analysis for Crane
Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus, from the five analysts covering Crane, is for revenues of US$2.49b in 2023, which would reflect a concerning 26% reduction in Crane's sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to dive 46% to US$3.72 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$2.28b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.61 in 2023. So there seems to have been a moderate uplift in sentiment following the latest results, given the upgrades to both revenue and earnings per share forecasts for next year.
Despite these upgrades,the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of US$96.60, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. 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 Crane analyst has a price target of US$139 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$82.00. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 33% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2023. That is a notable change from historical growth of 0.7% over the last five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the same industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 4.9% annually for the foreseeable future. It's pretty clear that Crane's revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.