Align Technology, Inc. Just Recorded A 9.6% EPS Beat: Here’s What Analysts Are Forecasting Next

Last week, you might have seen that Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) released its third-quarter result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 3.0% to US$150 in the past week. Align Technology reported US$1.0b in revenue, roughly in line with analyst forecasts, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) of US$1.90 beat expectations, being 9.6% 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’ve gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

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After the latest results, the 15 analysts covering Align Technology are now predicting revenues of US$4.26b in 2027. If met, this would reflect an okay 2.4% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to surge 29% to US$8.90. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of US$4.29b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$8.91 in 2027. So it’s pretty clear that, although the analysts have updated their estimates, there’s been no major change in expectations for the business following the latest results.

View our latest analysis for Align Technology

The analysts reconfirmed their price target of US$187, showing that the business is executing well and in line with expectations. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company’s valuation. There are some variant perceptions on Align Technology, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$210 and the most bearish at US$162 per share. The narrow spread of estimates could suggest that the business’ future is relatively easy to value, or thatthe analysts have a strong view on its prospects.

Looking at the bigger picture now, one of the ways we can make sense of these forecasts is to see how they measure up against both past performance and industry growth estimates. The analysts are definitely expecting Align Technology’s growth to accelerate, with the forecast 1.9% annualised growth to the end of 2027 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 1.4% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 7.4% per year. So it’s clear that despite the acceleration in growth, Align Technology is expected to grow meaningfully slower than the industry average.

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 Align Technology’s revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$187, 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. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Align Technology going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here..

And what about risks? Every company has them, and we’ve spotted 1 warning sign for Align Technology you should know about.

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