Today is shaping up negative for CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE:CURO) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial negative revision to this year's forecasts. Revenue estimates were cut sharply as analysts signalled a weaker outlook - perhaps a sign that investors should temper their expectations as well.

Following the downgrade, the current consensus from CURO Group Holdings' five analysts is for revenues of US$842m in 2021 which - if met - would reflect a meaningful 10% increase on its sales over the past 12 months. Prior to the latest estimates, the analysts were forecasting revenues of US$964m in 2021. It looks like forecasts have become a fair bit less optimistic on CURO Group Holdings, given the measurable cut to revenue estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for CURO Group Holdings

Another way we can view these estimates is in the context of the bigger picture, such as how the forecasts stack up against past performance, and whether forecasts are more or less bullish relative to other companies in the industry. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that CURO Group Holdings is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 14% annualised growth until the end of 2021. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 4.8% annual decline over the past three years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 8.8% per year. So it looks like CURO Group Holdings is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The clear low-light was that analysts slashing their revenue forecasts for CURO Group Holdings this year. The analysts also expect revenues to grow faster than the wider market. Overall, given the drastic downgrade to this year's forecasts, we'd be feeling a little more wary of CURO Group Holdings going forwards.

After a downgrade like this, it's pretty clear that previous forecasts were too optimistic. What's more, we've spotted several possible issues with CURO Group Holdings' business, like dilutive stock issuance over the past year. For more information, you can click here to discover this and the 2 other risks we've identified.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies 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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