The second-quarter results for George Weston Limited (TSE:WN) were released last week, making it a good time to revisit its performance. George Weston reported in line with analyst predictions, delivering revenues of CA$14b and statutory earnings per share of CA$10.75, suggesting the business is executing well and in line with its plan. 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.

See our latest analysis for George Weston

Taking into account the latest results, George Weston's four analysts currently expect revenues in 2024 to be CA$61.9b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to bounce 25% to CA$11.45. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of CA$62.5b and earnings per share (EPS) of CA$12.20 in 2024. So it looks like there's been a small decline in overall sentiment after the recent results - there's been no major change to revenue estimates, but the analysts did make a small dip in their earnings per share forecasts.

Despite cutting their earnings forecasts,the analysts have lifted their price target 5.6% to CA$227, suggesting that these impacts are not expected to weigh on the stock's value in the long term. 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 George Weston, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at CA$254 and the most bearish at CA$175 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.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that George Weston's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 3.1% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 4.3% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this to the 14 other companies in this industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenue at 3.4% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it looks like George Weston is forecast to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.