Northern Oil and Gas, Inc. (NYSE:NOG) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The analysts have sharply increased their revenue numbers, with a view that Northern Oil and Gas will make substantially more sales than they'd previously expected.

After the upgrade, the five analysts covering Northern Oil and Gas are now predicting revenues of US$1.8b in 2022. If met, this would reflect a huge 22% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Prior to the latest estimates, the analysts were forecasting revenues of US$1.6b in 2022. It looks like there's been a clear increase in optimism around Northern Oil and Gas, given the substantial gain in revenue forecasts.

Check out our latest analysis for Northern Oil and Gas

There was no particular change to the consensus price target of US$45.73, with Northern Oil and Gas' latest outlook seemingly not enough to result in a change of valuation. 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. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Northern Oil and Gas at US$69.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$30.00. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

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. The analysts are definitely expecting Northern Oil and Gas' growth to accelerate, with the forecast 49% annualised growth to the end of 2022 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 31% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to see a revenue decline of 6.2% annually. So it's clear with the acceleration in growth, Northern Oil and Gas is expected to grow meaningfully faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts lifted their revenue estimates for this year. They're also forecasting for revenues to perform better than companies in the wider market. Given that analysts appear to be expecting substantial improvement in the sales pipeline, now could be the right time to take another look at Northern Oil and Gas.

Analysts are definitely bullish on Northern Oil and Gas, but no company is perfect. Indeed, you should know that there are several potential concerns to be aware of, including dilutive stock issuance over the past year. For more information, you can click through to our platform to learn more about this and the 3 other risks we've identified .

Another thing to consider is whether management and directors have been buying or selling stock recently. We provide an overview of all open market stock trades for the last twelve months on our platform, here.

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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.