It's been a pretty great week for Accel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:ACEL) shareholders, with its shares surging 10% to US$11.49 in the week since its latest full-year results. Revenues were US$1.2b, approximately in line with expectations, although statutory earnings per share (EPS) performed substantially better. EPS of US$0.53 were also better than expected, beating analyst predictions by 14%. 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. With this in mind, we've gathered the latest statutory forecasts to see what the analysts are expecting for next year.

View our latest analysis for Accel Entertainment

Following last week's earnings report, Accel Entertainment's four analysts are forecasting 2024 revenues to be US$1.19b, approximately in line with the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to increase 7.2% to US$0.58. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$1.18b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$0.59 in 2024. The consensus analysts don't seem to have seen anything in these results that would have changed their view on the business, given there's been no major change to their estimates.

There were no changes to revenue or earnings estimates or the price target of US$14.00, suggesting that the company has met expectations in its recent result. Fixating on a single price target can be unwise though, since the consensus target is effectively the average of analyst price targets. As a result, some investors like to look at the range of estimates to see if there are any diverging opinions on the company's valuation. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Accel Entertainment at US$15.00 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$13.00. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting Accel Entertainment is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

One way to get more context on these forecasts is to look at how they compare to both past performance, and how other companies in the same industry are performing. We would highlight that Accel Entertainment's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 1.5% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 29% p.a. growth over the last five years. Compare this against other companies (with analyst forecasts) in the industry, which are in aggregate expected to see revenue growth of 9.5% annually. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that Accel Entertainment is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.