Strategic Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:STRA) investors will be delighted, with the company turning in some strong numbers with its latest results. The company beat forecasts, with revenue of US$290m, some 5.8% above estimates, and statutory earnings per share (EPS) coming in at US$1.23, 92% ahead of expectations. 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. We've gathered the most recent statutory forecasts to see whether the analysts have changed their earnings models, following these results.

Following the latest results, Strategic Education's four analysts are now forecasting revenues of US$1.21b in 2024. This would be a reasonable 3.9% improvement in revenue compared to the last 12 months. Per-share earnings are expected to accumulate 9.9% to US$4.58. Yet prior to the latest earnings, the analysts had been anticipated revenues of US$1.19b and earnings per share (EPS) of US$4.33 in 2024. So the consensus seems to have become somewhat more optimistic on Strategic Education's earnings potential following these results.

The consensus price target rose 7.4% to US$134, suggesting that higher earnings estimates flow through to the stock's valuation as well. It could also be instructive to look at the range of analyst estimates, to evaluate how different the outlier opinions are from the mean. Currently, the most bullish analyst values Strategic Education at US$145 per share, while the most bearish prices it at US$124. Still, with such a tight range of estimates, it suggeststhe analysts have a pretty good idea of what they think the company is worth.

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. The analysts are definitely expecting Strategic Education's growth to accelerate, with the forecast 5.2% annualised growth to the end of 2024 ranking favourably alongside historical growth of 4.3% per annum over the past five years. By contrast, our data suggests that other companies (with analyst coverage) in a similar industry are forecast to grow their revenue at 11% per year. So it's clear that despite the acceleration in growth, Strategic Education is expected to grow meaningfully slower than the industry average.

The Bottom Line

The most important thing here is that the analysts upgraded their earnings per share estimates, suggesting that there has been a clear increase in optimism towards Strategic Education following these results. Fortunately, the analysts also reconfirmed their revenue estimates, suggesting that it's tracking in line with expectations. Although our data does suggest that Strategic Education's revenue is expected to perform worse than the wider industry. We note an upgrade to the price target, suggesting that the analysts believes the intrinsic value of the business is likely to improve over time.

With that in mind, we wouldn't be too quick to come to a conclusion on Strategic Education. Long-term earnings power is much more important than next year's profits. We have estimates - from multiple Strategic Education analysts - going out to 2025, and you can see them free on our platform here.

Plus, you should also learn about the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Strategic Education .

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