Market forces rained on the parade of BioLife Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ:BLFS) shareholders today, when the analysts downgraded their forecasts for next year.   Both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts went under the knife, suggesting analysts have soured majorly on the business.      The stock price has risen 8.3% to US$12.34 over the past week.  Investors could be forgiven for changing their mind on the business following the downgrade; but it's not clear if the revised forecasts will lead to selling activity.  

Following the latest downgrade, the seven analysts covering BioLife Solutions provided consensus estimates of US$129m revenue in 2024, which would reflect a considerable 16% decline on its sales over the past 12 months.      Losses are predicted to fall substantially, shrinking 57% to US$1.00 per share.       Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$154m and losses of US$0.41 per share in 2024.         So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analysts making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also expecting losses per share to increase.    

See our latest analysis for BioLife Solutions

NasdaqCM:BLFS Earnings and Revenue Growth November 16th 2023

The consensus price target fell 7.2% to US$22.14, with the analysts clearly concerned about the company following the weaker revenue and earnings outlook.    

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the BioLife Solutions' past performance and to peers in the same industry.     We would highlight that sales are expected to reverse, with a forecast 13% annualised revenue decline to the end of 2024. That is a notable change from historical growth of 44% over the last five years.    Compare this with our data, which suggests that other companies in the same industry are, in aggregate, expected to see their revenue grow 3.8% per year.  It's pretty clear that BioLife Solutions' revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.    

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to note from this downgrade is that the consensus increased its forecast losses next year, suggesting all may not be well at BioLife Solutions.        Unfortunately analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, and industry data suggests that BioLife Solutions' revenues are expected to grow slower than the wider market.        With a serious cut to next year's expectations and a falling price target, we wouldn't be surprised if investors were becoming wary of BioLife Solutions.  

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders.   At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for BioLife Solutions going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.