City Holding Company (NASDAQ:CHCO) last week reported its latest third-quarter results, which makes it a good time for investors to dive in and see if the business is performing in line with expectations. City Holding reported US$84m in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$2.43 beat expectations, being 3.1% higher than what the analysts expected. 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. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.
Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from City Holding's five analysts is for revenues of US$340.2m in 2027. This would reflect a credible 5.5% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to rise 5.2% to US$9.71. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$339.1m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$9.66 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 City Holding
The analysts reconfirmed their price target of US$143, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. The consensus price target is just an average of individual analyst targets, so - it could be handy to see how wide the range of underlying estimates is. There are some variant perceptions on City Holding, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$148 and the most bearish at US$125 per share. With such a narrow range of valuations, the analysts apparently share similar views on what they think the business is worth.
Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that City Holding's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 4.4% annualised growth rate until the end of 2027 being well below the historical 7.3% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the industry, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 7.7% annually. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that City Holding is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing to take away is that there's been no major change in sentiment, with the analysts reconfirming that the business is performing in line with their previous earnings per share estimates. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that City Holding's revenue is expected to 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.
Keeping that in mind, we still think that the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for investors to consider. We have estimates - from multiple City Holding analysts - going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here.
However, before you get too enthused, we've discovered 1 warning sign for City Holding that you should be aware of.
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