The analysts covering Beam Global (NASDAQ:BEEM) delivered a dose of negativity to shareholders today, by making a substantial revision to their statutory forecasts for this year. Revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts were both revised downwards, with analysts seeing grey clouds on the horizon.

After the downgrade, the consensus from Beam Global's six analysts is for revenues of US$63m in 2024, which would reflect a discernible 4.9% decline in sales compared to the last year of performance. The loss per share is anticipated to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 24% to US$0.86. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$79m and losses of US$0.77 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.

The consensus price target was broadly unchanged at US$15.00, perhaps implicitly signalling that the weaker earnings outlook is not expected to have a long-term impact on the valuation.

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. These estimates imply that sales are expected to slow, with a forecast annualised revenue decline of 9.5% by the end of 2024. This indicates a significant reduction from annual growth of 59% 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 8.0% per year. So although its revenues are forecast to shrink, this cloud does not come with a silver lining - Beam Global is expected to lag the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to note from this downgrade is that the consensus increased its forecast losses this year, suggesting all may not be well at Beam Global. Regrettably, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and the latest forecasts imply the business will grow sales slower than the wider market. The lack of change in the price target is puzzling in light of the downgrade but, with a serious decline expected this year, we wouldn't be surprised if investors were a bit wary of Beam Global.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have estimates - from multiple Beam Global analysts - going out to 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 with high insider ownership.

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