Investors in Stericycle, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRCL) had a good week, as its shares rose 6.7% to close at US$53.77 following the release of its yearly results. Revenues were in line with expectations, at US$2.7b, while statutory losses ballooned to US$0.23 per share. 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.

View our latest analysis for Stericycle

Taking into account the latest results, the consensus forecast from Stericycle's eight analysts is for revenues of US$2.73b in 2024. This reflects a satisfactory 2.7% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Stericycle is also expected to turn profitable, with statutory earnings of US$1.30 per share. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$2.72b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.28 in 2024. So it's pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there's been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.

With the analysts reconfirming their revenue and earnings forecasts, it's surprising to see that the price target rose 15% to US$61.83. It looks as though they previously had some doubts over whether the business would live up to their expectations. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. There are some variant perceptions on Stericycle, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$75.00 and the most bearish at US$48.00 per share. Analysts definitely have varying views on the business, but the spread of estimates is not wide enough in our view to suggest that extreme outcomes could await Stericycle shareholders.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. For example, we noticed that Stericycle's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 2.7% growth to the end of 2024 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 6.0% a year over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 6.3% per year. So although Stericycle's revenue growth is expected to improve, it is still expected to grow slower than the industry.