LAUR vs LRN vs UTI Stock Comparison

Laureate Education, Stride and Universal Technical Institute Prices as of Nov 4, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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LAUR Laureate Education, Inc.
$35.15 -8.7% 1M +18.5% 1Y
Market cap
$4.70B
P/E
12.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.91B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
6 wins
LRN Stride, Inc.
$79.22 +0.4% 1M +11.5% 1Y
Market cap
$3.12B
P/E
9.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$2.54B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Laureate Education leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Laureate Education 6, Stride 4, Universal Technical Institute 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLAURLRNUTILeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $4.70B $3.12B $1.08B LAUR
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 12.1x 9.3x 31.4x LRN
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.6x 9.4x 36.6x LRN
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +20.9% +2.5% +9.1% LAUR
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 20.3% 13.2% 3.9% LAUR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 28.4% 17.1% 6.9% LAUR
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.0x -0.6x -0.1x LRN
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +18.5% +11.5% -20.7% LAUR
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +24.4%/yr +17.0%/yr +26.0%/yr UTI
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.7% 42.1% 72.2% LAUR
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 74/100 78/100 38/100 LRN

Percentile Scorecard

LAURLRNUTI

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

AxisLAURLRNUTI
Valuation 39 #21 of 34 79 #8 of 34 21 #27 of 34
Growth 94 #3 of 32 65 #12 of 32 52 #16 of 32
Profitability 97 #2 of 31 90 #4 of 31 33 #21 of 31
Financial Health 54 #19 of 40 80 #9 of 40 46 #22 of 40
Shareholder Returns 88 #3 of 17 – –
Overall 74 78 38
  • LAUR ranked among 40 companies in Consumer Services
  • LRN ranked among 40 companies in Consumer Services
  • UTI ranked among 40 companies in Consumer Services

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodLAURLRNUTISPY
1 month -8.7%+0.4%+16.4% -1.0%
3 months -7.6%-3.9%-47.2% -0.4%
6 months +8.1%-14.8%-39.6% +4.5%
Year to date +4.4%+22.0%-14.6% +12.4%
1 year +18.5%+11.5%-20.7% +13.6%
3 years +157.7%+41.8%+145.8% +76.4%
3 years, per year +37.1%+12.4%+35.0% +20.8%
5 years +197.1%+118.8%+217.0% +63.7%
5 years, per year +24.4%+17.0%+26.0% +10.4%
10 years —+611.1%+1,269.3% +267.7%
10 years, per year —+21.7%+29.9% +13.9%

Risk

MeasureLAURLRNUTISPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.7%42.1%72.2% 12.8%
Downside volatility, 1Y 33.3%45.3%89.2% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.44-0.030.88 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.580.27-0.29 1.06
Max drawdown, 5Y -30.0%-64.1%-63.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -13.1%-22.4%-56.4% -1.6%
52-week high $40.46$102.03$51.19 $779.14
52-week low $29.66$61.02$18.46 $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.

MultipleLAURLRNUTI
P/E now vs peer median 12.6xmedian 12.6x 9.8xmedian 12.6x 35.8xmedian 12.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.5xmedian 1.1x 1.3xmedian 1.1x 1.4xmedian 1.1x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 8.2xmedian 8.5x 4.9xmedian 8.5x 15.0xmedian 8.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 16.6xmedian 11.1x 6.6xmedian 11.1x -53.8xmedian 11.1x
P/B now vs peer median 4.1xmedian 1.9x 2.0xmedian 1.9x 3.6xmedian 1.9x
PEG now vs peer median 0.21median 0.29 0.36median 0.29 0.25median 0.29

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 monthsLAURLRNUTI
Revenue $1.91B $2.54B $883.60M
Gross profit $546.84M $949.60M $425.13M
Operating income $494.50M $466.05M $44.26M
Net income $388.26M $334.31M $34.30M
Free cash flow $287.60M $504.52M -$22.87M
EPS (diluted) $2.77 $7.46 $0.61
Cash & equivalents $189.90M $547.75M $130.06M
Total debt $204.20M $418.43M $160.03M
Shares (diluted) 139.94M 44.83M 55.94M
Enterprise value $4.05B -$61.52M $413.76M

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
MetricLAURLRNUTI
P/E 12.6x 9.8x 35.8x
P/FCF 16.6x 6.6x -53.8x
P/Operating cash flow 11.4x 6.6x 16.5x
P/S 2.5x 1.3x 1.4x
P/B 4.1x 2.0x 3.6x
P/Tangible book 4.8x 2.0x 3.9x
EV/EBITDA 8.2x 4.9x 15.0x
EV/EBIT 9.7x 6.3x 27.6x
EV/Revenue 2.5x 1.2x 1.4x
EV/FCF 16.6x 5.9x -53.3x
EV/Operating cash flow 11.4x 5.9x 16.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.21 0.36 0.25

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLAURLRNUTI
Revenue growth (1Y) 20.9% 2.5% 9.1%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 10.5% 10.3% 17.3%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 29.1% -2.1% 5.8%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 15.1% 11.2% 18.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) 31.6% 22.1% -47.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 17.2% 33.1% 45.0%
Net income growth (1Y) 88.5% 5.8% -45.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 54.7% 29.4% 59.5%
EPS growth (1Y) 101.9% 16.2% -45.9%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 61.0% 27.6% 141.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 33.3% 33.2% -30.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 25.6% 33.7% 30.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 19.8% 33.6% -130.6%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 24.7% 34.8% 3.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLAURLRNUTI
Gross margin 28.6% 37.4% 48.1%
EBITDA margin 30.6% 23.7% 9.2%
Operating margin 25.8% 18.4% 5.0%
Pretax margin 25.9% 17.4% 5.1%
Net margin 20.3% 13.2% 3.9%
FCF margin 15.0% 19.9% -2.6%
Operating cash flow margin 21.8% 19.9% 8.4%
Return on equity 33.8% 20.3% 10.0%
Return on assets 15.8% 13.5% 3.9%
Return on invested capital 28.4% 17.1% 6.9%
Return on capital employed 25.2% 25.9% 6.5%
Asset turnover 0.8x 1.0x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.1x 1.5x 2.2x
Stock comp / revenue 0.7% 0.9% 1.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLAURLRNUTI
Debt / assets 8.2% 16.5% 17.8%
Debt / equity 0.2x 0.3x 0.5x
Net debt / EBITDA 0.0x -0.6x -0.1x
Debt / FCF 0.7x 0.8x -7.0x
Liabilities / assets 53.2% 33.9% 61.7%
Equity / assets 46.8% 66.1% 38.3%
Interest coverage 33.7x – 11.4x
Current ratio 0.7x 2.6x 1.3x
Quick ratio 0.6x 2.4x 1.4x
Cash ratio 0.4x 1.2x 0.9x
Altman Z-score 3.78 5.13 2.74

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLAURLRNUTI
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 8.4% – –
Shareholder yield 8.4% – 0.0%
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.

ConsensusLAURLRNUTI
Forward P/E 17.6xFY2026 9.4xFY2027 36.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.00FY2026 $8.42FY2027 $0.61FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +16.3%FY2026 +17.9%FY2027 -46.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +17.0% -6.4% +23.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.03BFY2026 $2.42BFY2027 $860.77MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +19.6%FY2026 -3.9%FY2027 +3.0%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -4.4% +16.4% +16.8%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLAURLRNUTI
Held by institutions 95.8% 100.0% 100.0%
Institutions holding 339 413 264
Change in shares held, QoQ -3.3% +1.2% +9.0%
Institutions buying 161 212 157
Institutions selling 144 136 77
Buyers to sellers 1.12 1.56 2.04

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.

LAURLRNUTI
LAUR 1.00 0.23 0.31
LRN 0.23 1.00 0.29
UTI 0.31 0.29 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LAUR, LRN and UTI?

Laureate Education (LAUR) is the largest by market capitalisation: Laureate Education (LAUR) $4.70B, Stride (LRN) $3.12B, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) $1.08B.

Which stock is cheaper, LAUR, LRN and UTI?

Stride (LRN) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Laureate Education (LAUR) 12.1x, Stride (LRN) 9.3x, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) 31.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Stride (LRN) is cheapest (Laureate Education (LAUR) 17.6x, Stride (LRN) 9.4x, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) 36.6x). 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) +20.9%, Stride (LRN) +2.5%, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) +9.1%.

Which company is more profitable?

Laureate Education (LAUR) has the highest net margin (Laureate Education (LAUR) 20.3%, Stride (LRN) 13.2%, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) 3.9%). On return on invested capital, Laureate Education (LAUR) leads (Laureate Education (LAUR) 28.4%, Stride (LRN) 17.1%, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) 6.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Laureate Education (LAUR) returned the most: Laureate Education (LAUR) +18.5%, Stride (LRN) +11.5%, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) -20.7%. Over five years, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) compounded fastest (Laureate Education (LAUR) +24.4%/yr, Stride (LRN) +17.0%/yr, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) +26.0%/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) 31.7%, Stride (LRN) 42.1%, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) 72.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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 6. 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.