Today is shaping up negative for Panda Dairy Corporation (SZSE:300898) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial negative revision to this year's forecasts. Revenue estimates were cut sharply as the analysts signalled a weaker outlook - perhaps a sign that investors should temper their expectations as well.

Following the downgrade, the latest consensus from Panda Dairy's two analysts is for revenues of CN¥1.0b in 2024, which would reflect a meaningful 12% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to increase 3.3% to CN¥0.97. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of CN¥1.2b and earnings per share (EPS) of CN¥0.97 in 2024. So there's been a clear change in analyst sentiment in the recent update, with the analysts making a substantial drop in revenues and reconfirming their earnings per share estimates.

The average price target was steady at CN¥26.45 even though revenue estimates declined; likely suggesting the analysts place a higher value on earnings.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. The period to the end of 2024 brings more of the same, according to the analysts, with revenue forecast to display 12% growth on an annualised basis. That is in line with its 11% annual growth over the past five years. Compare this with the broader industry, which analyst estimates (in aggregate) suggest will see revenues grow 8.9% annually. So it's pretty clear that Panda Dairy is forecast to grow substantially faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The most obvious conclusion from this consensus update is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with analysts holding earnings per share steady, in line with previous estimates. Unfortunately, analysts also downgraded their revenue estimates, although our data indicates revenues are expected to perform better than the wider market. Given the stark change in sentiment, we'd understand if investors became more cautious on Panda Dairy after today.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have analyst estimates for Panda Dairy going out as far as 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are downgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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