Cross Country Healthcare, Inc. (NASDAQ:CCRN) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The consensus estimated revenue numbers rose, with their view now clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects. Cross Country Healthcare has also found favour with investors, with the stock up a remarkable 22% to US$11.32 over the past week. We'll be curious to see if these new estimates convince the market to lift the stock price higher still.

Following the upgrade, the current consensus from Cross Country Healthcare's eight analysts is for revenues of US$920m in 2021 which - if met - would reflect a notable 10% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. The losses are expected to disappear over the next year or so, with forecasts for a profit of US$0.57 per share this year. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$791m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.28 in 2021. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for Cross Country Healthcare

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analysts have increased their price target for Cross Country Healthcare 7.7% to US$11.04 on the back of these upgrades. 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 Cross Country Healthcare at US$12.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$8.25. 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.

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. It's clear from the latest estimates that Cross Country Healthcare's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 10% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2021 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 0.8% 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 7.1% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Cross Country Healthcare is expected to grow much faster than its 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. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with analysts apparently feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving. Given that analysts appear to be expecting substantial improvement in the sales pipeline, now could be the right time to take another look at Cross Country Healthcare.

Still, 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 Cross Country Healthcare going out to 2022, and you can see them free on our platform here..

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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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