It's been a good week for CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDW) shareholders, because the company has just released its latest annual results, and the shares gained 5.4% to US$245. Results were roughly in line with estimates, with revenues of US$21b and statutory earnings per share of US$8.10. Earnings are an important time for investors, as they can track a company's performance, look at what the analysts are forecasting for next year, and see if there's been a change in sentiment towards the company. So we gathered the latest post-earnings forecasts to see what estimates suggest is in store for next year.

Check out our latest analysis for CDW

Taking into account the latest results, the most recent consensus for CDW from ten analysts is for revenues of US$22.0b in 2024. If met, it would imply a credible 3.1% increase on its revenue over the past 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to swell 15% to US$9.46. Before this earnings report, the analysts had been forecasting revenues of US$22.6b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$9.05 in 2024. If anything, the analysts look to have become slightly more optimistic overall; while they decreased their revenue forecasts, EPS predictions increased and ultimately earnings are more important.

The average price target increased 7.7% to US$252, with the analysts signalling that the improved earnings outlook is more important to the company's valuation than its revenue. There's another way to think about price targets though, and that's to look at the range of price targets put forward by analysts, because a wide range of estimates could suggest a diverse view on possible outcomes for the business. The most optimistic CDW analyst has a price target of US$274 per share, while the most pessimistic values it at US$226. Even so, with a relatively close grouping of estimates, it looks like the analysts are quite confident in their valuations, suggesting CDW is an easy business to forecast or the the analysts are all using similar assumptions.

Of course, another way to look at these forecasts is to place them into context against the industry itself. We would highlight that CDW's revenue growth is expected to slow, with the forecast 3.1% annualised growth rate until the end of 2024 being well below the historical 7.2% p.a. growth over the last five years. By way of comparison, the other companies in this industry with analyst coverage are forecast to grow their revenue at 5.4% per year. Factoring in the forecast slowdown in growth, it seems obvious that CDW is also expected to grow slower than other industry participants.