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Laureate Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LAUR) defied analyst predictions to release its quarterly results, which were ahead of market expectations. Revenues and losses per share were both better than expected, with revenues of US$236m leading estimates by 5.6%. Statutory losses were smaller than the analystsexpected, coming in at US$0.13 per share. The analysts typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. 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 current consensus from Laureate Education's four analysts is for revenues of US$1.57b in 2025. This would reflect an okay 3.0% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to sink 14% to US$1.65 in the same period. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$1.57b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.62 in 2025. So the consensus seems to have become somewhat more optimistic on Laureate Education's earnings potential following these results.
Check out our latest analysis for Laureate Education
There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$24.13, suggesting that the improved earnings per share outlook is not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. There are some variant perceptions on Laureate Education, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$27.00 and the most bearish at US$19.50 per share. 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.
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. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Laureate Education's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2025 expected to display 4.1% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 11% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 11% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than Laureate Education.
