Red Hat Inc (NYSE:RHT)
The information below is derived from data submitted to the Estimize.com platform by a set of Buy Side and Independent analyst contributors.
The current Wall Street consensus expectation is for Red Hat to report 37c EPS and $398.69M revenue while the current Estimize.com consensus from 20 Buy Side and Independent contributing analysts is 39c EPS and $400.38M in revenue. This quarter the buy-side as represented by the Estimize.com community is expecting Red Hat to beat the Wall Street consensus on EPS and revenue by 2c and roughly $2 million respectively.
Over the previous 6 quarters the consensus from Estimize.com has been more accurate than Wall Street in forecasting Red Hat’s EPS and revenue 4 times each. By tapping into a wider range of contributors including hedge-fund analysts, asset managers, independent research shops, students, and non professional investors Estimize has created a data set that is more accurate than Wall Street up to 69.5% of the time, but more importantly it does a better job of representing the market’s actual expectations. It has been confirmed by an independent academic study from Rice University that stock prices tend to react with a more strongly associated degree to the expectation benchmark from Estimize than from the Wall Street consensus.
The magnitude of the difference between the Wall Street and Estimize consensus numbers often identifies opportunities to take advantage of expectations that may not have been priced into the market. In this case we are seeing a larger gap in expectations than usual.
The distribution of estimates published by analysts on the Estimize.com platform range from 35c to 44c EPS and from $395.65M to $405.50M in revenues. This quarter we’re seeing a wide distribution of estimates on Red Hat .
The size of the distribution of estimates relative to previous quarters often signals whether or not the market is confident that it has priced in the expected earnings already. A wider distribution of estimates signaling less agreement in the market, which could mean greater volatility post earnings.
Over the past 4 months the Wall Street EPS consensus increased from 36c to 37c while the Estimize consensus rose from 38c to 39c. Meanwhile the Wall Street revenue forecast pushed higher from $394.39M to $398.69M while the Estimize forecast increased slightly from a low of $399.35M to $400.38M. Timeliness is correlated with accuracy and upward analyst revisions at the end of the quarter are often a bullish indicator.
The analyst with the highest estimate confidence rating this quarter is Nils1975 who projects 40c EPS and $401.69M in revenue. In the Winter 2014 season Nils1975 is rated as the 15th best analyst and is ranked 12th overall among over 4,000 contributing analysts. This season Nils1975 has been more accurate than Wall Street in forecasting EPS and revenue an impressive 65% and 70% of the time respectively throughout 94 estimates. Estimate confidence ratings are calculated through algorithms developed by deep quantitative research which looks at correlations between analyst track records and tendencies as they relate to future accuracy. In this case Nils1975 is making a bullish call expecting Red Hat to beat the Estimize community’s expectations on both the top and bottom line.
Red Hat’s revenue has grown in each of the past 5 quarters and this time around contributing analysts on the Estimize.com platform are expecting more of the same. The Estimize community is expecting Red Hat to grow its EPS and revenue on a year over year basis by 8% and 15% respectively and beat the Street’s expectations by a small margin on both the top and bottom line.
Get access to estimates for Red Hat published by your Buy Side and Independent analyst peers and follow the rest of earnings season by heading over to Estimize.com. Register for free to create your own estimates and see how you stack up to Wall Street.