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Investors interested in stocks from the Schools sector have probably already heard of Perdoceo Education (PRDO) and Grand Canyon Education (LOPE). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.
There are plenty of strategies for discovering value stocks, but we have found that pairing a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system produces the best returns. The Zacks Rank favors stocks with strong earnings estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight companies with specific traits.
Perdoceo Education and Grand Canyon Education are both sporting a Zacks Rank of # 2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.
Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.
Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.
PRDO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.13, while LOPE has a forward P/E of 21.06. We also note that PRDO has a PEG ratio of 0.81. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LOPE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.40.
Another notable valuation metric for PRDO is its P/B ratio of 1.93. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, LOPE has a P/B of 6.52.
Based on these metrics and many more, PRDO holds a Value grade of A, while LOPE has a Value grade of C.
Both PRDO and LOPE are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that PRDO is the superior value option right now.
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Perdoceo Education Corporation (PRDO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) : Free Stock Analysis Report