Consensus estimate

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

Its use is as a reference point rather than 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 is slow to cut in a downturn, it clusters, and it is 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.