Energiekontor AG (ETR:EKT) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the analysts making substantial upgrades to this year's statutory forecasts. The revenue forecast for this year has experienced a facelift, with the analysts now much more optimistic on its sales pipeline.

After this upgrade, Energiekontor's four analysts are now forecasting revenues of €371m in 2023. This would be a substantial 85% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are anticipated to fall 12% to €3.60 in the same period. Previously, the analysts had been modelling revenues of €326m and earnings per share (EPS) of €3.64 in 2023. It seems analyst sentiment has certainly become more bullish on revenues, even though they haven't changed their view on earnings per share.

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Even though revenue forecasts increased, the consensus price target fell 9.8% to €120, perhaps suggesting that the analysts have become more pessimistic about the lack of earnings growth.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. It's clear from the latest estimates that Energiekontor's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 85% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2023 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 14% p.a. over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 8.3% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Energiekontor is expected to grow much faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with analysts reconfirming that earnings per share are expected to continue performing in line with their prior expectations. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. The consensus price target fell measurably, with analysts seemingly not reassured by recent business developments, leading to a lower estimate of Energiekontor's future valuation. Seeing the dramatic upgrade to this year's forecasts, it might be time to take another look at Energiekontor.

Still, the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Energiekontor going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here..