In This Article:
Investors in Ingredion Incorporated (NYSE:INGR) had a good week, as its shares rose 4.8% to close at US$137 following the release of its quarterly results. It looks like a credible result overall - although revenues of US$1.8b were what the analysts expected, Ingredion surprised by delivering a (statutory) profit of US$3.00 per share, an impressive 24% above what was forecast. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.
After the latest results, the six analysts covering Ingredion are now predicting revenues of US$7.52b in 2025. If met, this would reflect a satisfactory 2.2% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to swell 15% to US$11.25. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$7.51b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$11.01 in 2025. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates.
See our latest analysis for Ingredion
There's been no major changes to the consensus price target of US$149, suggesting that the improved earnings per share outlook is not enough to have a long-term positive impact on the stock's valuation. 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 Ingredion analyst has a price target of US$168 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$135. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Ingredion 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. We would highlight that Ingredion'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 5.8% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this to the 143 other companies in this industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenue at 2.4% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while Ingredion's revenue growth is expected to slow, it's expected to grow roughly in line with the industry.