Today is shaping up negative for Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement Co., Ltd. (SZSE:000789) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial negative revision to this year's forecasts. Revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts were both revised downwards, with analysts seeing grey clouds on the horizon.

Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the twin analysts covering Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement, is for revenues of CN¥7.9b in 2024, which would reflect a measurable 3.0% reduction in Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement's sales over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to jump 33% to CN¥0.38. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of CN¥12b and earnings per share (EPS) of CN¥1.19 in 2024. Indeed, we can see that the analysts are a lot more bearish about Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement's prospects, administering a sizeable cut to revenue estimates and slashing their EPS estimates to boot.

It'll come as no surprise then, to learn that the analysts have cut their price target 18% to CN¥7.17.

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. Over the past five years, revenues have declined around 0.8% annually. Worse, forecasts are essentially predicting the decline to accelerate, with the estimate for an annualised 3.0% decline in revenue until the end of 2024. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 9.4% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while it does have declining revenues, the analysts also expect Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement to suffer worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that analysts cut their earnings per share estimates, expecting a clear decline in business conditions. Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement's revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market. After such a stark change in sentiment from analysts, we'd understand if readers now felt a bit wary of Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. We have analyst estimates for Jiangxi Wannianqing Cement going out as far as 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies 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.