As you might know, Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima (NYSE:LOMA) recently reported its first-quarter numbers. Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima beat revenue forecasts by a solid 14% to hit AR$219b. Statutory earnings per share came in at AR$208, in line with expectations. 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. We thought readers would find it interesting to see the analysts latest (statutory) post-earnings forecasts for next year.

Following the latest results, Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima's five analysts are now forecasting revenues of AR$976.7b in 2026. This would be a decent 15% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Statutory earnings per share are predicted to shoot up 107% to AR$641. In the lead-up to this report, the analysts had been modelling revenues of AR$922.3b and earnings per share (EPS) of AR$1,021 in 2026. While next year's revenue estimates increased, there was also a large cut to EPS expectations, suggesting the consensus has a bit of a mixed view of these results.

There's been no major changes to the price target of US$14.70, suggesting that the impact of higher forecast revenue and lower earnings won't result in a meaningful change to the business' valuation. 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. There are some variant perceptions on Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima, with the most bullish analyst valuing it at US$15.00 and the most bearish at US$14.00 per share. This is a very narrow spread of estimates, implying either that Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima is an easy company to value, or - more likely - the analysts are relying heavily on some key assumptions.

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. It's pretty clear that there is an expectation that Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima's revenue growth will slow down substantially, with revenues to the end of 2026 expected to display 20% growth on an annualised basis. This is compared to a historical growth rate of 28% over the past five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 6.6% annually. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima is also expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away is that the analysts downgraded their earnings per share estimates, showing that there has been a clear decline in sentiment following these results. Happily, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting them to grow faster than the wider industry. The consensus price target held steady at US$14.70, 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. We have estimates - from multiple Loma Negra Compañía Industrial Argentina Sociedad Anónima analysts - going out to 2028, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Don't forget that there may still be risks.

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.