Consensus estimate

The average of published analyst forecasts for a company's revenue and earnings.

Treat it as a reference point and never as a forecast. Knowing what the market expects tells you what a result has to beat to be a positive surprise, and it defines what your own estimate has to differ from to be worth having.

Consensus has documented biases. It's slow to cut in a downturn and it clusters. It's also influenced by company guidance, which makes it partly a restatement of what management said.

Your value as an analyst is the distance between your number and this one, plus a reason.