West Bancorporation, Inc. (NASDAQ:WTBA) came out with its second-quarter results last week, and we wanted to see how the business is performing and what industry forecasts think of the company following this report. It looks like the results were a bit of a negative overall. While revenues of US$20m were in line with analyst predictions, statutory earnings were less than expected, missing estimates by 3.1% to hit US$0.31 per share. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what expert is forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analyst latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

View our latest analysis for West Bancorporation

After the latest results, the sole analyst covering West Bancorporation are now predicting revenues of US$79.0m in 2024. If met, this would reflect a modest 3.5% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to accumulate 2.1% to US$1.30. Before this earnings report, the analyst had been forecasting revenues of US$76.8m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.15 in 2024. There's been a pretty noticeable increase in sentiment, with the analyst upgrading revenues and making a nice increase in earnings per share in particular.

It will come as no surprise to learn that the analyst has increased their price target for West Bancorporation 22% to US$22.00on the back of these upgrades.

Taking a look at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can understand these forecasts is to see how they compare to both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analyst is definitely expecting West Bancorporation's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 7.1% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 3.2% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 6.4% annually. Factoring in the forecast acceleration in revenue, it's pretty clear that West Bancorporation is expected to grow at about the same rate as the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us is the consensus earnings per share upgrade, which suggests a clear improvement in sentiment around West Bancorporation's earnings potential next year. There was also an upgrade to revenue estimates, although as we saw earlier, forecast growth is only expected to be about the same as the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analyst clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.