Central Japan Railway Company Just Recorded A 5.9% EPS Beat: Here's What Analysts Are Forecasting Next

Central Japan Railway Company (TSE:9022) shareholders are probably feeling a little disappointed, since its shares fell 7.3% to JP¥3,744 in the week after its latest annual results. Central Japan Railway reported JP¥2.0t in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of JP¥571 beat expectations, being 5.9% higher than what the analysts expected. 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. Readers will be glad to know we've aggregated the latest statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their mind on Central Japan Railway after the latest results.Trump has pledged to "unleash" American oil and gas and these 15 US stocks have developments that are poised to benefit. Taking into account the latest results, Central Japan Railway's eleven analysts currently expect revenues in 2027 to be JP¥2.01t, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are forecast to shrink 10.0% to JP¥521 in the same period. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of JP¥2.00t and earnings per share (EPS) of JP¥525 in 2027. 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. View our latest analysis for Central Japan Railway It will come as no surprise then, to learn that the consensus price target is largely unchanged at JP¥4,593. 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 Central Japan Railway, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at JP¥5,500 and the most bearish at JP¥3,350 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 Central Japan Railway's past performance and to peers in the same industry. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Central Japan Railway's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2027 expected to display 0.3% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 18% 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 2.5% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than Central Japan Railway. The Bottom Line The most obvious conclusion is that there's been no major change in the business' prospects in recent times, with the analysts holding their earnings forecasts steady, in line with previous estimates. On the plus side, there were no major changes to revenue estimates; although forecasts imply they will perform worse than the wider industry. There was no real change to the consensus price target, suggesting that the intrinsic value of the business has not undergone any major changes with the latest estimates. 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. We have estimates - from multiple Central Japan Railway analysts - going out to 2029, 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 Central Japan Railway you should know about.