News Flash: Analysts Just Made A Captivating Upgrade To Their Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) Forecasts

Finward Bancorp (NASDAQ:FNWD) shareholders will have a reason to smile today, with the covering analyst making substantial upgrades to this year's forecasts. The analyst greatly increased their revenue estimates, suggesting a stark improvement in business fundamentals.

Following the upgrade, the latest consensus from Finward Bancorp's sole analyst is for revenues of US$78m in 2024, which would reflect a substantial 23% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are presumed to surge 72% to US$3.35. Prior to this update, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of US$67m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.50 in 2024. There has definitely been an improvement in perception recently, with the analyst substantially increasing both their earnings and revenue estimates.

See our latest analysis for Finward Bancorp

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analyst is definitely expecting Finward Bancorp's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 23% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 10.0% per annum 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 5.7% per year. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that Finward Bancorp is expected to grow much faster than its industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that the analyst upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. Fortunately, the analyst also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. With a serious upgrade to expectations, it might be time to take another look at Finward Bancorp.

The covering analyst is definitely bullish on Finward Bancorp, but no company is perfect. Indeed, you should know that there are several potential concerns to be aware of, including its declining profit margins. You can learn more, and discover the 2 other flags we've identified, for 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 upgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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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.