Investors in NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTAP) had a good week, as its shares rose 2.5% to close at US$122 following the release of its quarterly results. NetApp reported US$1.7b in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.42 beat expectations, being 3.8% higher than what the analysts expected. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.

Following the latest results, NetApp's 19 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$6.64b in 2025. This would be an okay 2.6% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory per-share earnings are expected to be US$5.60, roughly flat on the last 12 months. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$6.59b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$5.42 in 2025. So the consensus seems to have become somewhat more optimistic on NetApp's earnings potential following these results.

The consensus price target was unchanged at US$137, implying that the improved earnings outlook is not expected to have a long term impact on value creation for shareholders. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. There are some variant perceptions on NetApp, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$160 and the most bearish at US$116 per share. This shows there is still a bit of diversity in estimates, but analysts don't appear to be totally split on the stock as though it might be a success or failure situation.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the NetApp's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's clear from the latest estimates that NetApp's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 5.2% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2025 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 3.2% p.a. over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.7% per year. It seems obvious that, while the future growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, NetApp is expected to grow slower than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards NetApp following these results. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$137, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. We have forecasts for NetApp going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another thing to consider is whether management and directors have been buying or selling stock recently. We provide an overview of all open market stock trades for the last twelve months on our platform, here.

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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.