Results: Vital Energy, Inc. Beat Earnings Expectations And Analysts Now Have New Forecasts

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It's been a pretty great week for Vital Energy, Inc. (NYSE:VTLE) shareholders, with its shares surging 20% to US$31.17 in the week since its latest quarterly results. Revenues were US$459m, approximately in line with whatthe analysts expected, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) crushed expectations, coming in at US$5.73, an impressive 285% ahead of estimates. 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. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

View our latest analysis for Vital Energy

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NYSE:VTLE Earnings and Revenue Growth November 9th 2024

Following the latest results, Vital Energy's nine analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$2.10b in 2025. This would be a solid 13% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to nosedive 34% to US$8.53 in the same period. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$2.10b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$8.14 in 2025. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates.

There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$39.83, suggesting that the improved earnings per share outlook is not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. 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 Vital Energy at US$65.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$29.00. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Vital Energy's past performance and to peers in the same industry. We would highlight that Vital Energy's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 10% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 20% 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 3.1% annually. So it's pretty clear that, while Vital Energy's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's still expected to grow faster than the industry itself.