Need To Know: Analysts Are Much More Bullish On Urban&Civic plc (LON:UANC)
Shareholders in Urban&Civic plc (LON:UANC) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term 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 consensus from four analysts covering Urban&Civic is for revenues of UK£88m in 2020, implying a chunky 16% decline in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to shoot up 48% to UK£0.081. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of UK£64m and earnings per share (EPS) of UK£0.05 in 2020. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analysts substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.
See our latest analysis for Urban&Civic
Despite these upgrades, the analysts have not made any major changes to their price target of UK£3.54, 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 Urban&Civic, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at UK£4.30 and the most bearish at UK£2.75 per share. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view.
Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast revenue decline of 16%, a significant reduction from annual growth of 13% over the last five years. Yet aggregate analyst estimates for other companies in the industry suggest that industry revenues are forecast to decline 3.0% next year. So it's pretty clear that Urban&Civic's revenues are expected to shrink faster than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. Notably, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, with sales performing well although Urban&Civic's revenue growth is expected to trail that of 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 Urban&Civic.
With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Urban&Civic going out to 2023, 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. Thank you for reading.
