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Shareholders of Airtel Africa Plc (LON:AAF) will be pleased this week, given that the stock price is up 15% to UK£1.44 following its latest quarterly results. Results overall were respectable, with statutory earnings of US$0.036 per share roughly in line with what the analysts had forecast. Revenues of US$1.3b came in 4.2% ahead of analyst predictions. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.
See our latest analysis for Airtel Africa
Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Airtel Africa's eleven analysts is for revenues of US$5.84b in 2026. This reflects a huge 22% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to leap 963% to US$0.17. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$5.82b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.16 in 2026. Although the revenue estimates have not really changed, we can see there's been a decent improvement in earnings per share expectations, suggesting that the analysts have become more bullish after the latest result.
There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of UK£1.41, suggesting that the improved earnings per share outlook is not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic Airtel Africa analyst has a price target of UK£2.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at UK£1.15. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation.
These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Airtel Africa's past performance and to peers in the same industry. The analysts are definitely expecting Airtel Africa's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 18% annualised growth to the end of 2026 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 8.2% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 3.2% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Airtel Africa is expected to grow much faster than its industry.