It's been a good week for AC Immune SA (NASDAQ:ACIU) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest third-quarter results, and the shares gained 6.7% to US$3.20. In addition to smashing expectations with revenues of CHF25m, AC Immune delivered a surprise statutory profit of CHF0.05 per share, a notable improvement compared to analyst expectations of a loss. 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 AC Immune

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from AC Immune's four analysts is for revenues of CHF61.6m in 2025. This would reflect a substantial 50% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Losses are predicted to fall substantially, shrinking 47% to CHF0.22. Before this earnings announcement, the analysts had been modelling revenues of CHF67.4m and losses of CHF0.22 per share in 2025. So there seems to have been a moderate uplift in analyst sentiment with the latest consensus release, given the upgrade to loss per share forecasts for next year.

There was no major change to the US$10.06average price target, suggesting that the adjustments to revenue and earnings are not expected to have a long-term impact on the business. 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. Currently, the most bullish analyst values AC Immune at US$15.77 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$7.74. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

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. For example, we noticed that AC Immune's rate of growth is expected to accelerate meaningfully, with revenues forecast to exhibit 39% growth to the end of 2025 on an annualised basis. That is well above its historical decline of 52% a year over the past five years. Compare this against analyst estimates for the broader industry, which suggest that (in aggregate) industry revenues are expected to grow 21% annually. So it looks like AC Immune is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts reconfirmed their loss per share estimates for next year. Regrettably, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, but the latest forecasts still imply the business will grow faster than the wider industry. With that said, earnings are more important to the long-term value of the business. The consensus price target held steady at US$10.06, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

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 forecasts for AC Immune going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Plus, you should also learn about the 1 warning sign we've spotted with AC Immune .

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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.