Last week, you might have seen that Plexus Corp. (NASDAQ:PLXS) released its quarterly result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 5.4% to US$93.03 in the past week. Results were roughly in line with estimates, with revenues of US$983m and statutory earnings per share of US$1.04. 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. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

View our latest analysis for Plexus

Taking into account the latest results, Plexus' five analysts currently expect revenues in 2024 to be US$4.10b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to decline 11% to US$4.09 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$4.20b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$5.03 in 2024. The analysts seem less optimistic after the recent results, reducing their revenue forecasts and making a substantial drop in earnings per share numbers.

The analysts made no major changes to their price target of US$104, suggesting the downgrades are not expected to have a long-term impact on Plexus' valuation. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on Plexus, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$115 and the most bearish at US$90.00 per share. Still, with such a tight range of estimates, it suggeststhe analysts have a pretty good idea of what they think the company is worth.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that Plexus' revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 0.02% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 7.0% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the industry, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 5.2% annually. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Plexus is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. On the negative side, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$104, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.