LAUR vs BFAM vs LRN Stock Comparison

Laureate Education, Bright Horizons Family Solutions and Stride Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
LAUR Laureate Education, Inc.
$38.47 +2.9% 1M +28.9% 1Y
Market cap
$5.30B
P/E
16.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.83B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
7 wins
LRN Stride, Inc.
$78.52 -0.1% 1M -48.4% 1Y
Market cap
$3.39B
P/E
10.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.54B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Laureate Education leads on 7 of the 12 questions below (Laureate Education 7, Stride 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLAURBFAMLRNLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $5.30B $3.64B $3.39B LAUR
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 16.5x 20.8x 10.1x LRN
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.2x 13.9x 9.3x LRN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +17.9% +8.5% +2.5% LAUR
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.6% 5.8% — LAUR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 24.7% 9.3% — LAUR
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.1x 2.8x — LAUR
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +28.9% -27.0% -48.4% LAUR
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +18.3%/yr -14.4%/yr +18.3%/yr LRN
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 33.0% 47.7% 89.7% LAUR
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 71/100 51/100 77/100 LRN

Percentile Scorecard

LAURBFAMLRN

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisLAURBFAMLRN
Valuation 34 #22 of 33 31 #23 of 33 78 #8 of 33
Growth 83 #6 of 30 52 #15 of 30 55 #14 of 30
Profitability 93 #3 of 29 50 #15 of 29 82 #6 of 29
Financial Health 58 #17 of 39 24 #30 of 39 92 #4 of 39
Shareholder Returns 85 #3 of 14 100 #1 of 14 –
Overall 71 51 77
  • LAUR ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services
  • BFAM ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services
  • LRN ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodLAURBFAMLRNSPY
1 month +2.9%+11.8%-0.1% -0.8%
3 months +2.6%-5.4%-12.8% +3.5%
6 months +23.4%-9.4%-19.7% +7.0%
Year to date +14.3%-27.4%+20.9% +12.2%
1 year +28.9%-27.0%-48.4% +13.0%
3 years +170.2%+2.0%+44.2% +86.3%
3 years, per year +39.3%+0.7%+13.0% +23.1%
5 years +131.7%-54.0%+132.0% +68.6%
5 years, per year +18.3%-14.4%+18.3% +11.0%
10 years —+9.9%+575.7% +258.0%
10 years, per year —+1.0%+21.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureLAURBFAMLRNSPY
Volatility, 1Y 33.0%47.7%89.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 33.9%55.0%121.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.30-0.29-0.08 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.88-0.57-0.54 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -46.1%-67.2%-64.1% -25.4%
From 52-week high -4.9%-32.6%-48.9% -1.8%
52-week high $40.46$109.23$153.53 $779.14
52-week low $28.88$59.18$61.02 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleLAURBFAMLRN
P/E now vs peer median 16.7xmedian 15.5x 21.7xmedian 15.5x 10.0xmedian 15.5x
P/S now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 1.3x 1.2xmedian 1.3x 1.3xmedian 1.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.1xmedian 10.1x 11.7xmedian 10.1x —median 10.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 18.5xmedian 14.7x 15.4xmedian 14.7x 7.2xmedian 14.7x
P/B now vs peer median 4.6xmedian 2.0x 3.8xmedian 2.0x 1.9xmedian 2.0x
PEG now vs peer median 0.31median 0.35 0.49median 0.35 0.40median 0.35

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsLAURBFAMLRN
Revenue $1.83B $3.03B $2.54B
Gross profit $498.85M $711.35M $949.60M
Operating income $446.85M $311.11M $466.05M
Net income $321.53M $175.04M $334.31M
Free cash flow $286.58M $235.93M –
EPS (diluted) $2.30 $3.38 $7.06
Cash & equivalents $161.67M $163.69M $547.75M
Total debt $223.17M $1.29B –
Shares (diluted) 139.94M 51.76M 47.33M
Enterprise value $4.60B $3.08B $3.39B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricLAURBFAMLRN
P/E 16.7x 21.7x 10.0x
P/FCF 18.5x 15.4x 7.2x
P/Operating cash flow 13.0x 10.9x 6.5x
P/S 2.9x 1.2x 1.3x
P/B 4.6x 3.8x 1.9x
P/Tangible book 5.4x 4.8x 2.0x
EV/EBITDA 10.1x 11.7x –
EV/EBIT 12.0x 15.3x –
EV/Revenue 2.9x 1.6x 1.3x
EV/FCF 18.7x 20.1x –
EV/Operating cash flow 13.2x 14.3x 6.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.31 0.49 0.40

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLAURBFAMLRN
Revenue growth (1Y) 17.9% 8.5% 2.5%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 10.4% 10.8% 10.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 18.0% 7.7% -2.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 11.5% 12.6% 11.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 18.7% 8.8% 22.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.6% 26.2% 33.1%
Net income growth (1Y) 25.1% -1.0% 5.8%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 47.6% 39.1% 29.4%
EPS growth (1Y) 32.4% 10.4% 10.1%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 53.6% 44.4% 25.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 39.9% 0.3% 33.2%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 24.4% 11.1% 33.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 25.7% -2.8% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 23.6% 14.2% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLAURBFAMLRN
Gross margin 27.3% 23.5% –
EBITDA margin 29.1% 13.5% –
Operating margin 24.4% 10.3% –
Pretax margin 24.2% 8.6% –
Net margin 17.6% 5.8% –
FCF margin 15.7% 7.8% –
Operating cash flow margin 22.3% 11.0% 19.9%
Return on equity 29.4% 16.8% 20.3%
Return on assets 13.7% 4.6% 13.5%
Return on invested capital 24.7% 9.3% –
Return on capital employed 24.3% 11.0% –
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.8x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.9x 1.5x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 1.0% 0.9%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLAURBFAMLRN
Debt / assets 9.2% 34.0% –
Debt / equity 0.2x 1.4x –
Net debt / EBITDA 0.1x 2.8x –
Debt / FCF 0.8x 5.5x –
Liabilities / assets 52.9% 75.1% 33.9%
Equity / assets 47.1% 24.9% 66.1%
Interest coverage 35.9x 6.2x –
Current ratio 0.7x 0.5x 2.6x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.4x –
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.2x –
Altman Z-score 4.00 2.04 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLAURBFAMLRN
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 6.2% 17.5% –
Shareholder yield 6.2% 17.5% –
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusLAURBFAMLRN
Forward P/E 19.2xFY2026 13.9xFY2026 9.3xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year $2.00FY2026 $5.31FY2026 $8.42FY2027
EPS growth, next FY +16.3%FY2026 +16.7%FY2026 +17.9%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after +17.0% +13.6% -6.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.03BFY2026 $3.03BFY2026 $2.42BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY +19.6%FY2026 +3.3%FY2026 -3.9%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after -4.4% +2.5% +16.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLAURBFAMLRN
Held by institutions 95.8% 100.0% 100.0%
Institutions holding 337 384 410
Change in shares held, QoQ -3.3% -1.2% +1.2%
Institutions buying 161 205 212
Institutions selling 144 150 135
Buyers to sellers 1.12 1.37 1.57

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

LAURBFAMLRN
LAUR 1.00 -0.02 0.18
BFAM -0.02 1.00 0.23
LRN 0.18 0.23 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LAUR, BFAM and LRN?

Laureate Education (LAUR) is the largest by market capitalisation: Laureate Education (LAUR) $5.30B, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) $3.64B, Stride (LRN) $3.39B.

Which stock is cheaper, LAUR, BFAM and LRN?

Stride (LRN) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Laureate Education (LAUR) 16.5x, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 20.8x, Stride (LRN) 10.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, Stride (LRN) is cheapest (Laureate Education (LAUR) 19.2x, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 13.9x, Stride (LRN) 9.3x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Laureate Education (LAUR) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Laureate Education (LAUR) +17.9%, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) +8.5%, Stride (LRN) +2.5%.

Which company is more profitable?

Laureate Education (LAUR) has the highest net margin (Laureate Education (LAUR) 17.6%, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 5.8%). On return on invested capital, Laureate Education (LAUR) leads (Laureate Education (LAUR) 24.7%, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 9.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Laureate Education (LAUR) returned the most: Laureate Education (LAUR) +28.9%, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) -27.0%, Stride (LRN) -48.4%. Over five years, Stride (LRN) compounded fastest (Laureate Education (LAUR) +18.3%/yr, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) -14.4%/yr, Stride (LRN) +18.3%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Laureate Education (LAUR) has been the steadiest (Laureate Education (LAUR) 33.0%, Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) 47.7%, Stride (LRN) 89.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, LAUR, BFAM and LRN?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Laureate Education (LAUR) leads on 7. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.