A week ago, SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:SEAS) came out with a strong set of second-quarter numbers that could potentially lead to a re-rate of the stock. Statutory revenue and earnings both blasted past expectations, with revenue of US$440m beating expectations by 30% and earnings per share (EPS) reaching US$1.59, some 446% ahead of expectations. 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 SeaWorld Entertainment after the latest results.

See our latest analysis for SeaWorld Entertainment

After the latest results, the ten analysts covering SeaWorld Entertainment are now predicting revenues of US$1.49b in 2021. If met, this would reflect a sizeable 70% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Earnings are expected to improve, with SeaWorld Entertainment forecast to report a statutory profit of US$3.03 per share. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$1.27b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.77 in 2021. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in sentiment following the latest results, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

Despite these upgrades,the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of US$62.30, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. Currently, the most bullish analyst values SeaWorld Entertainment at US$79.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$47.00. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. For example, we noticed that SeaWorld Entertainment's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 191% growth to the end of 2021 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 12% a year over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 20% per year. Not only are SeaWorld Entertainment's revenues expected to improve, it seems that the analysts are also expecting it to grow faster than the wider industry.