Stock Yards Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SYBT) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. It was overall a positive result, with revenues beating expectations by 2.3% to hit US$86m. Stock Yards Bancorp reported statutory earnings per share (EPS) US$0.94, which was a notable 12% above what the analysts had forecast. 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. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

Following the latest results, Stock Yards Bancorp's five analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$346.0m in 2024. This would be a reasonable 5.7% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to accumulate 3.9% to US$3.69. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$341.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.50 in 2024. The analysts seems to have become more bullish on the business, judging by their new earnings per share estimates.

The consensus price target rose 19% to US$65.25, suggesting that higher earnings estimates flow through to the stock's valuation as well. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. The most optimistic Stock Yards Bancorp analyst has a price target of US$68.00 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$63.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Stock Yards Bancorp is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the Stock Yards Bancorp's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Stock Yards Bancorp's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2024 expected to display 12% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 18% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.3% annually. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Stock Yards Bancorp is also expected to grow faster 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 Stock Yards Bancorp following these results. Happily, there were no major changes to revenue forecasts, with the business still expected to grow faster than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.

With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Stock Yards Bancorp. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have estimates - from multiple Stock Yards Bancorp analysts - going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

It might also be worth considering whether Stock Yards Bancorp's debt load is appropriate, using our debt analysis tools on the Simply Wall St 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.

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