Shareholders in QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ:QNST) may be thrilled to learn that the analysts have just delivered a major upgrade to their near-term forecasts. The consensus statutory numbers for both revenue and earnings per share (EPS) increased, with their view clearly much more bullish on the company's business prospects. Investor sentiment seems to be improving too, with the share price up 6.6% to US$22.85 over the past 7 days. It will be interesting to see if this latest upgrade is enough to kickstart further buying interest in the stock.

Following the upgrade, the latest consensus from QuinStreet's six analysts is for revenues of US$1.0b in 2025, which would reflect a huge 30% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. The losses are expected to disappear over the next year or so, with forecasts for a profit of US$0.13 per share this year. Prior to this update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$831m and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.08 in 2025. So we can see there's been a pretty clear increase in analyst sentiment in recent times, with both revenues and earnings per share receiving a decent lift in the latest estimates.

Check out our latest analysis for QuinStreet

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 27% to US$29.00 per share.

These estimates are interesting, but it can be useful to paint some more broad strokes when seeing how forecasts compare, both to the QuinStreet's past performance and to peers in the same industry. The analysts are definitely expecting QuinStreet's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 43% annualised growth to the end of 2025 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 5.3% per annum over the past five years. Compare this with other companies in the same industry, which are forecast to grow their revenue 11% annually. It seems obvious that, while the growth outlook is brighter than the recent past, the analysts also expect QuinStreet to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The biggest takeaway for us from these new estimates is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, with improved earnings power expected for this year. They also upgraded their revenue estimates for this year, and sales are expected to grow faster than the wider market. With a serious upgrade to expectations and a rising price target, it might be time to take another look at QuinStreet.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. We have estimates - from multiple QuinStreet analysts - going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Another way to search for interesting companies that could be reaching an inflection point is to track whether management are buying or selling, with our free list of growing companies backed by insiders.

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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.