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 first-quarter results last week. It was not a great statutory result, with revenues coming in 100% lower than the analysts predicted. Unsurprisingly, earnings also fell seriously short of forecasts, turning into a per-share loss of US$0.27. 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 gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

See our latest analysis for Sangamo Therapeutics

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for Sangamo Therapeutics from seven analysts is for revenues of US$42.8m in 2024. If met, it would imply a major 128% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 65% to US$0.55. Before this earnings announcement, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$36.9m and losses of US$0.50 per share in 2024. Ergo, there's been a clear change in sentiment, with the analysts lifting this year's revenue estimates, while at the same time increasing their loss per share numbers to reflect the cost of achieving this growth.

The average price target rose 11% to US$3.50, even thoughthe analysts have been updating their forecasts to show higher revenues and higher forecast losses. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Sangamo Therapeutics, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$8.00 and the most bearish at US$1.00 per share. So we wouldn't be assigning too much credibility to analyst price targets in this case, because there are clearly some widely different views on what kind of performance this business can generate. 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.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analysts are definitely expecting Sangamo Therapeutics' growth to accelerate, with the forecast 201% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 11% per annum 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. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Sangamo Therapeutics to grow faster than the wider industry.