Slot machine and terminal operator Accel Entertainment (NYSE:ACEL) announced better-than-expected revenue<\/mark> in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 8.5% year on year to $351.6 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.17 per share was 6.6% below analysts\u2019 consensus estimates. <\/p>\n Is now the time to buy Accel Entertainment? Find out in our full research report<\/a>.<\/p>\n Established in Illinois, Accel Entertainment (NYSE:ACEL) is a provider of electronic gaming machines and interactive amusement terminals to bars and entertainment venues. <\/p>\n Examining a company\u2019s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Over the last five years, Accel Entertainment grew its sales at a 30.6% annual rate. Though this growth is acceptable on an absolute basis, we need to see more than just topline growth for the consumer discretionary sector, which can display significant earnings volatility. This means our bar for the sector is particularly high, reflecting the non-essential and hit-driven nature of the products and services offered. Additionally, five-year CAGR starts around Covid, when revenue was depressed then rebounded. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Long-term growth is the most important, but within consumer discretionary, product cycles are short and revenue can be hit-driven due to rapidly changing trends and consumer preferences. Accel Entertainment\u2019s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 7.3% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. We\u2019re wary when companies in the sector see decelerations in revenue growth, as it could signal changing consumer tastes aided by low switching costs. Accel Entertainment also discloses its number of video gaming terminals sold, which reached 28,353 in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, Accel Entertainment\u2019s video gaming terminals sold averaged 6.1% year-on-year growth. Because this number aligns with its revenue growth during the same period, we can see the company\u2019s monetization was fairly consistent. This quarter, Accel Entertainment reported year-on-year revenue growth of 8.5%, and its $351.6 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street\u2019s estimates by 2.3%. <\/p>\n Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 3.8% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. This projection doesn’t excite us and suggests its products and services will face some demand challenges. <\/p>\n ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Nvidia\u2019s Quiet Partner.<\/strong> Nvidia\u2019s chips cost a hundred grand. The connectors that make them work cost even more. One company makes them all.<\/p>\n Every AI server needs specialized infrastructure the chip companies don\u2019t make. High-speed cables. Power connectors. Thermal sensors. This 90-year-old company built a monopoly on it. The AI boom just started. This stock is still flying under the radar. Claim The Stock Ticker Here for FREE<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Operating margin is an important measure of profitability as it shows the portion of revenue left after accounting for all core expenses \u2013 everything from the cost of goods sold to advertising and wages. It\u2019s also useful for comparing profitability across companies with different levels of debt and tax rates because it excludes interest and taxes. <\/p>\n Accel Entertainment\u2019s operating margin has more or less stayed the same over the last 12 months , and we generally like to see margin increases due to economies of scale and cost efficiency over time. <\/p>\n This quarter, Accel Entertainment generated an operating margin profit margin of 7.7%, in line with the same quarter last year. This indicates the company\u2019s overall cost structure has been relatively stable. <\/p>\n We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company\u2019s growth is profitable. <\/p>\n Accel Entertainment\u2019s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is encouraging and shows it\u2019s at a critical moment in its life. <\/p>\n In Q1, Accel Entertainment reported EPS of $0.17, in line with the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts\u2019 estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Accel Entertainment\u2019s full-year EPS of $0.60 to grow 26.2%. <\/p>\n It was encouraging to see Accel Entertainment beat analysts\u2019 revenue expectations this quarter. On the other hand, its EPS missed and its adjusted operating income fell short of Wall Street\u2019s estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock traded down 1.4% to $12.29 immediately after reporting. <\/p>\n Accel Entertainment\u2019s latest earnings report disappointed. One quarter doesn\u2019t define a company\u2019s quality, so let\u2019s explore whether the stock is a buy at the current price. We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it\u2019s free)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source stockstory.org \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Slot machine and terminal operator Accel Entertainment (NYSE:ACEL) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q1 CY2026, with sales up 8.5% year on year to $351.6 million. Its GAAP profit of $0.17 per share was 6.6% below analysts\u2019 consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy Accel Entertainment? Find out in our full research report. Accel Entertainment (ACEL) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2403798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[447708,447707,447728],"class_list":["post-2403797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-financial-analysis","tag-stock-market-news","tag-undefined-earnings"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Accel-Entertainment-NYSEACEL-Exceeds-Q1-CY2026-Expectations.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2403797"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403797\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2403799,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2403797\/revisions\/2403799"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2403798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2403797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2403797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2403797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Accel Entertainment (ACEL) Q1 CY2026 Highlights:<\/h3>\n
\n
Company Overview<\/h3>\n
Revenue Growth<\/h2>\n
![\"Accel](\"https:\/\/news-assets.stockstory.org\/chart-images\/Accel-Entertainment-Year-On-Year-Revenue-Growth_2026-05-05-211433_ytmu.png\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Accel](\"https:\/\/news-assets.stockstory.org\/chart-images\/Accel-Entertainment-Video-Gaming-Terminals-Sold_2026-05-05-211437_nlnu.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nOperating Margin<\/h2>\n
![\"Accel](\"https:\/\/news-assets.stockstory.org\/chart-images\/Accel-Entertainment-Trailing-12-Month-Operating-Margin-GAAP_2026-05-05-211440_dykq.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nEarnings Per Share<\/h2>\n
![\"Accel](\"https:\/\/news-assets.stockstory.org\/chart-images\/Accel-Entertainment-Trailing-12-Month-EPS-GAAP_2026-05-05-211444_jhsd.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nKey Takeaways from Accel Entertainment\u2019s Q1 Results<\/h2>\n