Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WASH) Reported Earnings Last Week And Analysts Are Already Upgrading Their Estimates
It's been a pretty great week for Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:WASH) shareholders, with its shares surging 14% to US$34.37 in the week since its latest full-year results. Washington Trust Bancorp reported US$220m in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.71 beat expectations, being 3.3% higher than what the analysts expected. The analysts typically update their forecasts at each earnings report, and we can judge from their estimates whether their view of the company has changed or if there are any new concerns to be aware of. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.
Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Washington Trust Bancorp's three analysts is for revenues of US$247.4m in 2026. This would reflect a solid 13% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to soar 25% to US$3.43. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$232.8m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$3.19 in 2026. It looks like there's been a modest increase in sentiment following the latest results, withthe analysts becoming a bit more optimistic in their predictions for both revenues and earnings.
Check out our latest analysis for Washington Trust Bancorp
With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 10% to US$34.25per share. 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 Washington Trust Bancorp, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$40.00 and the most bearish at US$31.00 per share. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Washington Trust Bancorp is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.
One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that Washington Trust Bancorp is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 13% annualised growth until the end of 2026. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 11% annual decline over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in the industry are forecast to see their revenue grow 8.8% per year. So it looks like Washington Trust Bancorp is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards Washington Trust Bancorp following these results. Pleasantly, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and their forecasts suggest the business is expected to grow faster than the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.
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 forecasts for Washington Trust Bancorp going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.
You can also view our analysis of Washington Trust Bancorp's balance sheet, and whether we think Washington Trust Bancorp is carrying too much debt, for free on our platform here.
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