Heritage Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:HFWA) missed earnings with its latest quarterly results, disappointing overly-optimistic forecasters. Heritage Financial missed earnings this time around, with US$55m revenue coming in 5.7% below what the analysts had modelled. Statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.33 also fell short of expectations by 19%. 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. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.
See our latest analysis for Heritage Financial
Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Heritage Financial’s six analysts is for revenues of US$247.8m in 2025. This would reflect a major 21% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to jump 67% to US$1.83. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$246.4m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.81 in 2025. So it’s pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there’s been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.
It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at US$24.80. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so – it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Heritage Financial at US$27.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$24.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Heritage Financial is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. The analysts are definitely expecting Heritage Financial’s growth to accelerate, with the forecast 17% annualised growth to the end of 2025 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 1.4% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.7% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect Heritage Financial to grow faster than the wider industry.
