Investors in Sandy Spring Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:SASR) had a good week, as its shares rose 5.5% to close at US$30.92 following the release of its second-quarter results. It looks like a credible result overall - although revenues of US$101m were in line with what the analysts predicted, Sandy Spring Bancorp surprised by delivering a statutory profit of US$0.51 per share, a notable 18% above expectations. 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. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Sandy Spring Bancorp after the latest results.

View our latest analysis for Sandy Spring Bancorp

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Sandy Spring Bancorp's four analysts is for revenues of US$406.9m in 2024. This would reflect a credible 2.7% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are expected to decrease 4.8% to US$1.90 in the same period. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$407.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.89 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.

The consensus price target rose 18% to US$29.25despite there being no meaningful change to earnings estimates. It could be that the analystsare reflecting the predictability of Sandy Spring Bancorp's earnings by assigning a price premium. 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 Sandy Spring Bancorp, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$33.00 and the most bearish at US$25.00 per share. The narrow spread of estimates could suggest that the business' future is relatively easy to value, or thatthe analysts have a strong view on its prospects.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We can infer from the latest estimates that forecasts expect a continuation of Sandy Spring Bancorp'shistorical trends, as the 5.6% annualised revenue growth to the end of 2024 is roughly in line with the 6.4% annual growth over the past five years. Compare this with the broader industry, which analyst estimates (in aggregate) suggest will see revenues grow 6.3% annually. It's clear that while Sandy Spring Bancorp's revenue growth is expected to continue on its current trajectory, it's only expected to grow in line with the industry itself.