La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) missed earnings with its latest third-quarter results, disappointing overly-optimistic forecasters. Results look to have been somewhat negative - revenue fell 4.3% short of analyst estimates at US$500m, and statutory earnings of US$0.66 per share missed forecasts by 8.3%. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on La-Z-Boy after the latest results.

View our latest analysis for La-Z-Boy

Following last week's earnings report, La-Z-Boy's three analysts are forecasting 2025 revenues to be US$2.07b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to rise 8.0% to US$2.98. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$2.13b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.17 in 2025. The analysts are less bullish than they were before these results, given the reduced revenue forecasts and the small dip in earnings per share expectations.

What's most unexpected is that the consensus price target rose 10% to US$43.00, strongly implying the downgrade to forecasts is not expected to be more than a temporary blip.

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. We would highlight that La-Z-Boy's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 0.6% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 7.8% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 4.9% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than La-Z-Boy.

The Bottom Line

The biggest concern is that the analysts reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds could lay ahead for La-Z-Boy. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates underperformance compared to the wider industry. Even so, earnings per share are more important to the intrinsic value of the business. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.