It's been a good week for Parker-Hannifin Corporation (NYSE:PH) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest first-quarter results, and the shares gained 2.1% to US$635. The result was positive overall - although revenues of US$4.9b were in line with what the analysts predicted, Parker-Hannifin surprised by delivering a statutory profit of US$5.34 per share, modestly greater than expected. 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 thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
See our latest analysis for Parker-Hannifin
After the latest results, the 17 analysts covering Parker-Hannifin are now predicting revenues of US$20.4b in 2025. If met, this would reflect a credible 2.2% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to accumulate 2.7% to US$23.09. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$20.6b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$23.09 in 2025. 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$689, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. The most optimistic Parker-Hannifin analyst has a price target of US$802 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$458. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.
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. We would highlight that Parker-Hannifin's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 2.9% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 9.3% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this to the 177 other companies in this industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenue at 3.0% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it looks like Parker-Hannifin is forecast to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.