Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting For AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) After Its Third-Quarter Results
It's been a good week for AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest third-quarter results, and the shares gained 2.8% to US$295. AbbVie reported US$17b in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.37 beat expectations, being 2.7% higher than what the analysts expected. 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. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
After the latest results, the 24 analysts covering AbbVie are now predicting revenues of US$73.8b in 2027. If met, this would reflect a solid 12% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to leap 80% to US$10.52. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$73.7b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$10.46 in 2027. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.
See our latest analysis for AbbVie
There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$299, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. There are some variant perceptions on AbbVie, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$350 and the most bearish at US$200 per share. These price targets show that analysts do have some differing views on the business, but the estimates do not vary enough to suggest to us that some are betting on wild success or utter failure.
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. It's clear from the latest estimates that AbbVie's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with the forecast 9.3% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2027 noticeably faster than its historical growth of 2.5% p.a. 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 21% per year. It seems obvious that, while the future growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, AbbVie is expected to grow slower than the wider industry.
The Bottom Line
The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that AbbVie's revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates.
With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on AbbVie. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for AbbVie going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..
However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 4 warning signs for AbbVie that you should be aware of.
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