Nongfu Spring Co., Ltd. (HKG:9633) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. Nongfu Spring beat earnings, with revenues hitting CN¥43b, ahead of expectations, and statutory earnings per share outperforming analyst reckonings by a solid 12%. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

After the latest results, the 22 analysts covering Nongfu Spring are now predicting revenues of CN¥49.3b in 2024. If met, this would reflect a solid 15% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to accumulate 9.4% to CN¥1.18. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of CN¥47.9b and earnings per share (EPS) of CN¥1.10 in 2024. So there seems to have been a moderate uplift in sentiment following the latest results, given the upgrades to both revenue and earnings per share forecasts for next year.

Althoughthe analysts have upgraded their earnings estimates, there was no change to the consensus price target of HK$49.07, suggesting that the forecast performance does not have a long term impact on the company's 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. The most optimistic Nongfu Spring analyst has a price target of HK$58.74 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at HK$34.58. As you can see, analysts are not all in agreement on the stock's future, but the range of estimates is still reasonably narrow, which could suggest that the outcome is not totally unpredictable.

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. The period to the end of 2024 brings more of the same, according to the analysts, with revenue forecast to display 15% growth on an annualised basis. That is in line with its 15% annual growth over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenues grow 9.4% per year. So although Nongfu Spring is expected to maintain its revenue growth rate, it's definitely expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards Nongfu Spring following these results. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at HK$49.07, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have estimates - from multiple Nongfu Spring analysts - going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

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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