Estimates

What are estimates?

Estimates are forward-looking projections for a company’s financial performance, collected from equity research analysts and aggregated into a market consensus. These projections help investors evaluate market expectations for key financial metrics. Estimates are commonly used to compare market expectations against actual reported results and to assess changes in analyst sentiment over time. Consensus estimates are built by aggregating forecasts submitted by professional analysts covering a company. Contributors include investment banks, brokerage firms, and independent research providers from markets around the world. The estimates dataset includes forecasts for a wide range of financial metrics, including:

• Earnings per share (EPS)
• Total revenue (Sales)
• Cost of goods sold
• Gross profit
• Research & development
• Selling/general/admin expenses (total)
• Net income
• EBITDA
• EBIT
• Total assets
• Cash and short-term investments
• Total debt
• Cash flow from operating activities
• Cash flow from investing activities
• Cash flow from financing activities
• Free cash flow (FCF)
• Capital expenditures (CAPEX)
• Book value per share (BPS)
• Dividends per share (DPS)

Methodology features

Consensus estimates represent the arithmetic average of analyst forecasts submitted within the active consensus window. Estimate data is adjusted for corporate actions to maintain comparability across historical periods. Adjustments may include: Stock splits and reverse splits, Spin-offs, Rights issues, Exceptional dividends, Dilutive events affecting shares outstanding (convertible bond conversions, warrant exercises, the payment of dividends in the form of new shares). Historical per-share estimates may therefore change over time after a corporate action is applied. This ensures that historical and current estimates remain comparable on a consistent share basis. Because analyst expectations evolve continuously, consensus estimates should be considered dynamic market expectations rather than fixed forecasts.

Separate metrics specifics

• Estimates are collected exactly as provided by analysts and are not derived or recalculated from other financial metrics. Consensus values reflect the methodology most commonly used by the market, typically either GAAP or adjusted values excluding extraordinary and non-recurring items.
• Earnings per share (EPS) methodologies may vary by region and market practice. European markets commonly use adjusted EPS, Asian markets often use reported EPS based on local accounting standards, while US and Canadian markets generally follow prevailing market conventions.
• Sales (Total revenue) estimates may use different methodologies depending on industry and reporting standards. Most companies use Net sales, insurance companies may use Gross premiums written, and some companies distinguish between GAAP and non-GAAP revenue measures.
• Estimates for EBITDA, Operating Cash Flow, Investing Cash Flow, Financing Cash Flow and Free Cash Flow are generally not provided for banking companies due to limited comparability and relevance for banking activities.
• Net income methodology varies by region. The US and Canada primarily use reported values, Europe generally uses reported values except for the UK where adjusted values are common, Asia primarily uses reported values except for India, and Australia commonly uses adjusted values.
• Free cash flow estimates generally reflect over-the-cycle methodology excluding acquisitions where applicable. Depending on analyst standards, Free cash flow may be presented before or after taxes.
• CAPEX estimates are conventionally presented as positive values and generally reflect Total CAPEX rather than net CAPEX.
• Dividend per share (DPS) estimates generally exclude exceptional dividends to improve comparability across reporting periods.