Yahoo Finance Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) Analysts Are Pretty Bullish On The Stock After Recent Results
It's been a good week for Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest quarterly results, and the shares gained 10.0% to US$23.12. Results look mixed - while revenue fell marginally short of analyst estimates at US$56m, statutory earnings beat expectations 2.5%, with Heritage Financial reporting profits of US$0.41 per share. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.
View our latest analysis for Heritage Financial
Following the latest results, Heritage Financial's five analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$227.6m in 2024. This would be a reasonable 6.1% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to accumulate 7.3% to US$1.38. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$231.5m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.37 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.
With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 13% to US$23.60. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. The most optimistic Heritage Financial analyst has a price target of US$26.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$22.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Heritage Financial is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.
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. The analysts are definitely expecting Heritage Financial's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 13% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 2.3% 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 6.4% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Heritage Financial to grow faster than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Happily, there were no major changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow faster than the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.
Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Heritage Financial going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here..
Even so, be aware that Heritage Financial is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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