Investors in IMCD N.V. (AMS:IMCD) had a good week, as its shares rose 3.8% to close at €137 following the release of its half-year results. It was an okay report, and revenues came in at €2.4b, approximately in line with analyst estimates leading up to the results announcement. 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've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

View our latest analysis for IMCD

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for IMCD from 14 analysts is for revenues of €4.75b in 2024. If met, it would imply an okay 4.2% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory per-share earnings are expected to be €4.93, roughly flat on the last 12 months. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of €4.73b and earnings per share (EPS) of €4.91 in 2024. 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.

It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at €158. 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 IMCD, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at €205 and the most bearish at €120 per share. There are definitely some different views on the stock, but the range of estimates is not wide enough as to imply that the situation is unforecastable, in our view.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the IMCD's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that IMCD's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2024 expected to display 8.7% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 14% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 3.9% annually. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that IMCD is also expected to grow faster than the wider industry.