Last week, you might have seen that Village Farms International, Inc. (NASDAQ:VFF) released its second-quarter result to the market. The early response was not positive, with shares down 6.4% to US$0.96 in the past week. Results overall weren't great; even though revenues of US$92m beat expectations by 11%, statutory losses ballooned to US$0.21 per share, substantially worse than the analysts had expected. This is an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance in its report, look at what experts are forecasting for next year, and see if there has been any change to expectations for the business. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

Check out our latest analysis for Village Farms International

Taking into account the latest results, the current consensus from Village Farms International's five analysts is for revenues of US$328.1m in 2024. This would reflect a reasonable 4.5% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. The loss per share is expected to greatly reduce in the near future, narrowing 37% to US$0.28. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$314.4m and losses of US$0.09 per share in 2024. So it's pretty clear the analysts have mixed opinions on Village Farms International even after this update; although they upped their revenue numbers, it came at the cost of a very substantial increase in per-share losses.

It will come as a surprise to learn that the consensus price target rose 16% to US$2.17, with the analysts clearly more interested in growing revenue, even as losses intensify. 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. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Village Farms International at US$3.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$1.50. Note the wide gap in analyst price targets? This implies to us that there is a fairly broad range of possible scenarios for the underlying business.

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 Village Farms International's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 9.2% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 17% p.a. growth over the last five years. Juxtapose this against the other companies in the industry with analyst coverage, which are forecast to grow their revenues (in aggregate) 3.1% per year. Even after the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Village Farms International is also expected to grow faster than the wider industry.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing to note is the forecast of increased losses next year, suggesting all may not be well at Village Farms International. Happily, they also upgraded their revenue estimates, and are forecasting them to grow faster than the wider industry. There was also a nice increase in the price target, with the analysts clearly feeling that the intrinsic value of the business is improving.

With that said, the long-term trajectory of the company's earnings is a lot more important than next year. We have forecasts for Village Farms International going out to 2026, and you can see them free on our platform here.

It is also worth noting that we have found 1 warning sign for Village Farms International that you need to take into consideration.

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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.