Shareholders in AEON Credit Service (Asia) Company Limited (HKG:900) may be thrilled to learn that the covering analyst has 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.

After the upgrade, the solo analyst covering AEON Credit Service (Asia) is now predicting revenues of HK$1.8b in 2025. If met, this would reflect a huge 50% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to leap 26% to HK$1.18. Prior to this update, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of HK$1.6b and earnings per share (EPS) of HK$1.00 in 2025. 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.

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analyst has lifted their price target 6.2% to HK$13.00 per share.

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. The analyst is definitely expecting AEON Credit Service (Asia)'s growth to accelerate, with the forecast 50% annualised growth to the end of 2025 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 2.2% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 21% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analyst also expect AEON Credit Service (Asia) to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that the analyst upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. With a serious upgrade to expectations and a rising price target, it might be time to take another look at AEON Credit Service (Asia).

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. At least one analyst has provided forecasts out to 2027, which can be seen for 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.

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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.