The analysts might have been a bit too bullish on Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGMO), given that the company fell short of expectations when it released its quarterly results last week. It was not a great statutory result, with revenues coming in 96% lower than the analysts predicted. Unsurprisingly, earnings also fell seriously short of forecasts, turning into a per-share loss of US$0.18. 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. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

Check out our latest analysis for Sangamo Therapeutics

After the latest results, the five analysts covering Sangamo Therapeutics are now predicting revenues of US$27.1m in 2024. If met, this would reflect a huge 121% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 61% to US$0.46. Before this latest report, the consensus had been expecting revenues of US$30.4m and US$0.52 per share in losses. We can see there's definitely been a change in sentiment in this update, with the analysts administering a meaningful downgrade to next year's revenue estimates, while at the same time reducing their loss estimates.

There was a decent 20% increase in the price target to US$3.80, with the analysts clearly signalling that the expected reduction in losses is a positive, despite a weaker revenue outlook. 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 Sangamo Therapeutics analyst has a price target of US$8.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$1.00. With such a wide range in price targets, analysts are almost certainly betting on widely divergent outcomes in the underlying business. With this in mind, we wouldn't rely too heavily the consensus price target, as it is just an average and analysts clearly have some deeply divergent views on the business.

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 clear from the latest estimates that Sangamo Therapeutics' rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 4x annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 4.7% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 18% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Sangamo Therapeutics is expected to grow much faster than its industry.