HNI Corporation Beat Analyst Estimates: See What The Consensus Is Forecasting For Next Year

HNI Corporation (NYSE:HNI) came out with its third-quarter results last week, and we wanted to see how the business is performing and what industry forecasters think of the company following this report. Revenues were US$507m, approximately in line with whatthe analysts expected, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) crushed expectations, coming in at US$0.71, an impressive 58% ahead of estimates. 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. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on HNI after the latest results.

View our latest analysis for HNI

Taking into account the latest results, HNI's three analysts currently expect revenues in 2021 to be US$2.02b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to jump 28% to US$2.01. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$1.97b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.75 in 2021. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analysts upgrading revenues and making a nice gain to earnings per share in particular.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analysts have increased their price target for HNI 22% to US$39.50on the back of these upgrades. 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. There are some variant perceptions on HNI, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$43.00 and the most bearish at US$36.00 per share. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting HNI is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

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. From these estimates it looks as though the analysts expect the years of declining sales to come to an end, given the flat revenue forecast for next year. That would be a definite improvement, given that the past five years have seen sales shrink five years annually. Compare this against analyst estimates for the wider industry, which suggest that (in aggregate) industry revenues are expected to grow 5.9% next year. So it's pretty clear that, although revenues are improving, HNI is still expected to grow slower than the industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around HNI's earnings potential next year. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for next year, even though sales are expected to grow slower than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.

Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for HNI going out to 2022, and you can see them free on our platform here..

And what about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for HNI you should know about.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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