Celebrations may be in order for Expeditors International of Washington, Inc. (NYSE:EXPD) shareholders, with the analysts delivering a significant upgrade to their statutory estimates for the company. Consensus estimates suggest investors could expect greatly increased statutory revenues and earnings per share, with analysts modelling a real improvement in business performance. The stock price has risen 4.8% to US$179 over the past week, suggesting investors are becoming more optimistic. It will be interesting to see if this latest upgrade is enough to kickstart further buying interest in the stock.

After this upgrade, Expeditors International of Washington's 15 analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$13b in 2026. This would be a notable 8.2% improvement in sales compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to accumulate 9.2% to US$7.72. Before this latest update, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$12b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$6.89 in 2026. 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.

With these upgrades, we're not surprised to see that the analysts have lifted their price target 13% to US$178 per share.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. One thing stands out from these estimates, which is that Expeditors International of Washington is forecast to grow faster in the future than it has in the past, with revenues expected to display 17% annualised growth until the end of 2026. If achieved, this would be a much better result than the 10% annual decline over the past five years. Compare this against analyst estimates for the broader industry, which suggest that (in aggregate) industry revenues are expected to grow 3.6% annually. So it looks like Expeditors International of Washington is expected to grow faster than its competitors, at least for a while.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to take away from this upgrade is that analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates for this year, expecting improving business conditions. Fortunately, analysts also upgraded their revenue estimates, and our data indicates sales are expected to perform better than the wider market. Given that the consensus looks almost universally bullish, with a substantial increase to forecasts and a higher price target, Expeditors International of Washington could be worth investigating further.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have estimates - from multiple Expeditors International of Washington analysts - 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 upgrading 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.