Today is shaping up negative for LENZ Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:LENZ) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a substantial negative revision to this year's forecasts. Revenue and earnings per share (EPS) forecasts were both revised downwards, with the analysts seeing grey clouds on the horizon.

Following the latest downgrade, the current consensus, from the seven analysts covering LENZ Therapeutics, is for revenues of US$19m in 2026, which would reflect a not inconsiderable 9.3% reduction in LENZ Therapeutics' sales over the past 12 months. Per-share losses are expected to explode, reaching US$4.50 per share. Yet before this consensus update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$25m and losses of US$3.99 per share in 2026. So there's been quite a change-up of views after the recent consensus updates, with the analysts making a serious cut to their revenue forecasts while also expecting losses per share to increase.

The consensus price target fell 19% to US$32.00, implicitly signalling that lower earnings per share are a leading indicator for LENZ Therapeutics' valuation.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that analysts increased their loss per share estimates for this year. With a serious cut to this year's expectations and a falling price target, we wouldn't be surprised if investors were becoming wary of LENZ Therapeutics.

Even so, the longer term trajectory of the business is much more important for the value creation of shareholders. At Simply Wall St, we have a full range of analyst estimates for LENZ Therapeutics going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Of course, seeing company management invest large sums of money in a stock can be just as useful as knowing whether analysts are downgrading their estimates. So you may also wish to search this free list of stocks with high insider ownership.

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.