Analyst Forecasts For Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) Are Surging Higher
Repligen Corporation (NASDAQ:RGEN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects.
Following the upgrade, the most recent consensus for Repligen from its nine analysts is for revenues of US$586m in 2021 which, if met, would be a major 35% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to climb 14% to US$1.71. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$513m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.33 in 2021. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.
View our latest analysis for Repligen
Despite these upgrades, the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of US$240, suggesting that the higher estimates are not likely to have a long term impact on what the stock is worth. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Repligen, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$251 and the most bearish at US$200 per share. Still, with such a tight range of estimates, it suggests the analysts have a pretty good idea of what they think the company is worth.
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. It's clear from the latest estimates that Repligen's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 50% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2021 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 30% p.a. 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 7.6% per year. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Repligen to grow faster than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. The lack of change in the price target is puzzling, but with a serious upgrade to this year's earnings expectations, it might be time to take another look at Repligen.
Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have estimates - from multiple Repligen analysts - going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.
Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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