International Petroleum Corporation (TSE:IPCO) just released its latest full-year report and things are not looking great. It wasn't a great result overall - while revenue fell marginally short of analyst estimates at US$793m, statutory earnings missed forecasts by an incredible 26%, coming in at just US$0.81 per share. Following the result, the analysts have updated their earnings model, and it would be good to know whether they think there's been a strong change in the company's prospects, or if it's business as usual. So we collected the latest post-earnings statutory consensus estimates to see what could be in store for next year.

Check out our latest analysis for International Petroleum TSX:IPCO Earnings and Revenue Growth February 15th 2025

After the latest results, the five analysts covering International Petroleum are now predicting revenues of US$813.8m in 2025. If met, this would reflect a reasonable 2.6% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to crater 27% to US$0.64 in the same period. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$763.4m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.85 in 2025. So it's pretty clear the analysts have mixed opinions on International Petroleum after the latest results; even though they upped their revenue numbers, it came at the cost of a pretty serious reduction to per-share earnings expectations.

The consensus price target was unchanged at CA$20.34, suggesting the business is performing roughly in line with expectations, despite some adjustments to profit and revenue forecasts. That's not the only conclusion we can draw from this data however, as some investors also like to consider the spread in estimates when evaluating analyst price targets. There are some variant perceptions on International Petroleum, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at CA$21.97 and the most bearish at CA$17.97 per share. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting International Petroleum is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

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. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that International Petroleum's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2025 expected to display 2.6% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 16% over the past five years. Juxtapose this against the other companies in the industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenues (in aggregate) 1.6% per year. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that International Petroleum is also expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

Story Continues

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. Happily, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting them to grow faster than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at CA$20.34, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

Following on from that line of thought, we think that the long-term prospects of the business are much more relevant than next year's earnings. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for International Petroleum going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here..

And what about risks? Every company has them, and we've spotted  2 warning signs for International Petroleum  (of which 1 is potentially serious!) you should know about.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

View Comments