Werner Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:WERN) came out with its second-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. It looks like a pretty bad result, all things considered. Although revenues of US$761m were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings fell badly short, missing estimates by 27% to hit US$0.15 per share. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.

Following last week's earnings report, Werner Enterprises' 13 analysts are forecasting 2024 revenues to be US$3.11b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to decline 20% to US$0.82 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$3.15b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.07 in 2024. So there's definitely been a decline in sentiment after the latest results, noting the large cut to new EPS forecasts.

It might be a surprise to learn that the consensus price target was broadly unchanged at US$38.93, with the analysts clearly implying that the forecast decline in earnings is not expected to have much of an impact on valuation. 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. The most optimistic Werner Enterprises analyst has a price target of US$56.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$26.00. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

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. These estimates imply that revenue is expected to slow, with a forecast annualised decline of 3.8% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 8.1% 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 7.7% per year. It's pretty clear that Werner Enterprises' revenues are expected to perform substantially worse than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that Werner Enterprises' revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$38.93, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have forecasts for Werner Enterprises going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Before you take the next step you should know about the 4 warning signs for Werner Enterprises (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that we have uncovered.

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