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Investors in Civista Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:CIVB) had a good week, as its shares rose 6.0% to close at US$21.06 following the release of its first-quarter results. It looks like a credible result overall - although revenues of US$41m were what the analysts expected, Civista Bancshares surprised by delivering a (statutory) profit of US$0.66 per share, an impressive 28% above what was forecast. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.
Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Civista Bancshares' six analysts is for revenues of US$171.4m in 2025. This reflects a meaningful 12% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to leap 26% to US$2.84. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$169.0m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.36 in 2025. Although the revenue estimates have not really changed, we can see there's been a sizeable expansion in earnings per share expectations, suggesting that the analysts have become more bullish after the latest result.
View our latest analysis for Civista Bancshares
There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$25.17, 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 Civista Bancshares analyst has a price target of US$28.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$23.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Civista Bancshares 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 Civista Bancshares' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 16% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 8.7% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 7.1% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Civista Bancshares is expected to grow much faster than its industry.