It's been a good week for Reliance, Inc. (NYSE:RS) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest first-quarter results, and the shares gained 2.4% to US$284. The result was positive overall - although revenues of US$3.5b were in line with what the analysts predicted, Reliance surprised by delivering a statutory profit of US$3.74 per share, modestly greater than 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.

Our free stock report includes 2 warning signs investors should be aware of before investing in Reliance. Read for free now.

Following last week's earnings report, Reliance's six analysts are forecasting 2025 revenues to be US$13.8b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to increase 4.9% to US$15.31. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$14.1b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$16.52 in 2025. It's pretty clear that pessimism has reared its head after the latest results, leading to a weaker revenue outlook and a small dip in earnings per share estimates.

See our latest analysis for Reliance

Despite the cuts to forecast earnings, there was no real change to the US$328 price target, showing that the analysts don't think the changes have a meaningful impact on its intrinsic value. 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. The most optimistic Reliance analyst has a price target of US$362 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$307. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Reliance is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

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. We would highlight that Reliance's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 0.8% annualised growth rate until the end of 2025 being well below the historical 8.3% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 4.4% per year. So it's pretty clear that, while revenue growth is expected to slow down, the wider industry is also expected to grow faster than Reliance.

The Bottom Line

The biggest concern is that the analysts reduced their earnings per share estimates, suggesting business headwinds could lay ahead for Reliance. Unfortunately, they also downgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates underperformance compared to the wider industry. Even so, earnings per share are more important to the intrinsic value of the business. The consensus price target held steady at US$328, with the latest estimates not enough to have an impact on their price targets.

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. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for Reliance going out to 2027, and you can see them free on our platform here..

We don't want to rain on the parade too much, but we did also find 2 warning signs for Reliance that you need to be mindful of.

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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.