It's been a good week for First Busey Corporation (NASDAQ:BUSE) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest first-quarter results, and the shares gained 5.6% to US$23.09. Revenues of US$110m were in line with forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) came in below expectations at US$0.46, missing estimates by 5.5%. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from First Busey's six analysts is for revenues of US$465.9m in 2024. This would reflect a decent 8.8% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to increase 4.0% to US$2.05. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$459.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.06 in 2024. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

The analysts reconfirmed their price target of US$27.17, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. 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. There are some variant perceptions on First Busey, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$28.00 and the most bearish at US$24.00 per share. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting First Busey is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. It's clear from the latest estimates that First Busey's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 12% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 5.3% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.0% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect First Busey to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. Happily, there were no major changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have forecasts for First Busey going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Before you take the next step you should know about the 1 warning sign for First Busey that we have uncovered.

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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.