LAUR vs STRA vs TAL Stock Comparison

Laureate Education, Strategic Education and TAL Education Prices as of Oct 23, 2026 Peers: Industry group
LAUR Laureate Education, Inc.
$39.03 +6.3% 1M +31.1% 1Y
Market cap
$5.36B
P/E
16.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.83B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
3 wins
STRA Strategic Education, Inc.
$81.74 +4.5% 1M -2.3% 1Y
Market cap
$1.74B
P/E
12.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.29B
Div. yield
0.03%
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
TAL TAL Education Group
$10.18 -15.0% 1M -19.6% 1Y
Market cap
$5.85B
P/E
6.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$3.19B
Div. yield
–
Education Services Consumer Discretionary
6 wins

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

TAL Education leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (TAL Education 6, Laureate Education 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionLAURSTRATALLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $5.36B $1.74B $5.85B TAL
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 16.7x 12.9x 6.4x TAL
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 19.5x 11.1x 7.0x TAL
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +17.9% +3.5% +32.4% TAL
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 17.6% 10.5% 28.4% TAL
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 24.7% — — –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 0.1x — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.03% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +31.1% -2.3% -19.6% LAUR
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +17.6%/yr +2.8%/yr +16.1%/yr LAUR
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 32.9% 36.0% 44.2% LAUR
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 69/100 78/100 86/100 TAL

Percentile Scorecard

LAURSTRATAL

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

AxisLAURSTRATAL
Valuation 31 #23 of 33 81 #7 of 33 88 #5 of 33
Growth 76 #8 of 30 83 #6 of 30 100 #1 of 30
Profitability 93 #3 of 29 61 #12 of 29 82 #6 of 29
Financial Health 58 #17 of 39 71 #12 of 39 74 #11 of 39
Shareholder Returns 87 #3 of 16 93 #2 of 16 –
Overall 69 78 86
  • LAUR ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services
  • STRA ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services
  • TAL ranked among 39 companies in Consumer Services

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodLAURSTRATALSPY
1 month +6.3%+4.5%-15.0% -1.0%
3 months +5.5%+8.1%-1.3% +2.9%
6 months +25.9%+11.2%-9.4% +6.4%
Year to date +15.9%+1.9%-6.7% +11.4%
1 year +31.1%-2.3%-19.6% +13.1%
3 years +174.3%+3.2%+0.1% +79.4%
3 years, per year +40.0%+1.0%+0.0% +21.5%
5 years +125.2%+15.0%+111.2% +67.7%
5 years, per year +17.6%+2.8%+16.1% +10.9%
10 years —+76.3%-16.6% +255.2%
10 years, per year —+5.8%-1.8% +13.5%

Risk

MeasureLAURSTRATALSPY
Volatility, 1Y 32.9%36.0%44.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 34.0%41.5%40.7% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.30-0.010.61 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.95-0.06-0.44 1.03
Max drawdown, 5Y -46.1%-41.3%-67.3% -25.4%
From 52-week high -3.5%-6.7%-21.1% -2.5%
52-week high $40.46$87.62$12.91 $779.14
52-week low $28.88$72.19$8.95 $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.

MultipleLAURSTRATAL
P/E now vs peer median 16.9xmedian 16.9x 13.0xmedian 16.9x 6.4xmedian 16.9x
P/S now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 1.3x 1.4xmedian 1.3x 2.0xmedian 1.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 10.2xmedian 9.4x 7.4xmedian 9.4x —median 9.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 18.8xmedian 14.5x 10.8xmedian 14.5x 8.5xmedian 14.5x
P/B now vs peer median 4.7xmedian 2.0x 1.1xmedian 2.0x 1.5xmedian 2.0x
PEG now vs peer median 0.32median 0.33 0.22median 0.33 0.06median 0.33

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 monthsLAURSTRATAL
Revenue $1.83B $1.29B $3.19B
Gross profit $498.85M – $1.79B
Operating income $446.85M $180.24M $398.90M
Net income $321.53M $134.51M $906.86M
Free cash flow $286.58M $168.59M $731.92M
EPS (diluted) $2.30 $6.19 $1.57
Cash & equivalents $161.67M $123.76M $1.64B
Total debt $223.17M – –
Shares (diluted) 139.94M 21.74M 578.78M
Enterprise value $4.65B $1.13B -$7.13B

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
MetricLAURSTRATAL
P/E 16.9x 13.0x 6.4x
P/FCF 18.8x 10.8x 8.5x
P/Operating cash flow 13.2x 8.4x 8.5x
P/S 2.9x 1.4x 2.0x
P/B 4.7x 1.1x 1.5x
P/Tangible book 5.5x 1.3x 1.6x
EV/EBITDA 10.2x 7.4x –
EV/EBIT 12.2x 9.4x 8.5x
EV/Revenue 3.0x 1.3x 1.1x
EV/FCF 19.0x 10.0x 4.6x
EV/Operating cash flow 13.4x 7.8x 4.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.32 0.22 0.06

Growth

14 metrics
MetricLAURSTRATAL
Revenue growth (1Y) 17.9% 3.5% 32.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 10.4% 6.1% 43.9%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 18.0% – 37.4%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 11.5% – 45.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 18.7% 14.1% 1,299%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 13.6% 52.4% 74.6%
Net income growth (1Y) 25.1% 16.8% 770.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 47.6% 54.3% 106.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 32.4% 26.4% 824.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 53.6% 59.4% 110.4%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 39.9% 29.8% 46.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 24.4% 35.8% 60.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 25.7% 35.5% 46.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 23.6% 52.2% 60.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricLAURSTRATAL
Gross margin 27.3% – 56.0%
EBITDA margin 29.1% 17.7% –
Operating margin 24.4% 14.0% 12.5%
Pretax margin 24.2% 14.3% 28.0%
Net margin 17.6% 10.5% 28.4%
FCF margin 15.7% 13.1% 22.9%
Operating cash flow margin 22.3% 16.8% 22.9%
Return on equity 29.4% 8.2% 23.1%
Return on assets 13.7% 6.5% 14.3%
Return on invested capital 24.7% – –
Return on capital employed 24.3% 10.0% 9.6%
Asset turnover 0.8x 0.6x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.3x 1.6x 0.8x
Stock comp / revenue 0.8% 1.7% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricLAURSTRATAL
Debt / assets 9.2% – –
Debt / equity 0.2x – –
Net debt / EBITDA 0.1x – –
Debt / FCF 0.8x – –
Liabilities / assets 52.9% 21.0% 39.7%
Equity / assets 47.1% 79.0% 60.3%
Interest coverage 35.9x – –
Current ratio 0.7x 1.1x 1.7x
Quick ratio 0.6x 0.9x 1.3x
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.5x 1.3x
Altman Z-score 4.03 3.62 2.39

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricLAURSTRATAL
Dividend yield – 2.9% –
Net buyback yield 6.1% 8.4% –
Shareholder yield 6.1% 11.3% 0.0%
Payout ratio (earnings) – 41.1% –
Payout ratio (FCF) – 32.8% –
Dividend growth (1Y) – -5.8% –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – -2.1% –

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.

ConsensusLAURSTRATAL
Forward P/E 19.5xFY2026 11.1xFY2026 7.0xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $2.00FY2026 $7.38FY2026 $1.46FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +16.3%FY2026 +19.4%FY2026 +47.5%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +17.5% +18.7% -13.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $2.03BFY2026 $1.39BFY2026 $3.66BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +19.6%FY2026 +9.2%FY2026 +21.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -4.4% +1.4% +15.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersLAURSTRATAL
Held by institutions 95.8% 99.0% 41.2%
Institutions holding 337 291 237
Change in shares held, QoQ -3.3% +0.9% +11.9%
Institutions buying 161 149 116
Institutions selling 144 106 99
Buyers to sellers 1.12 1.41 1.17

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.

LAURSTRATAL
LAUR 1.00 0.49 0.27
STRA 0.49 1.00 0.18
TAL 0.27 0.18 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, LAUR, STRA and TAL?

TAL Education (TAL) is the largest by market capitalisation: Laureate Education (LAUR) $5.36B, Strategic Education (STRA) $1.74B, TAL Education (TAL) $5.85B.

Which stock is cheaper, LAUR, STRA and TAL?

TAL Education (TAL) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Laureate Education (LAUR) 16.7x, Strategic Education (STRA) 12.9x, TAL Education (TAL) 6.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, TAL Education (TAL) is cheapest (Laureate Education (LAUR) 19.5x, Strategic Education (STRA) 11.1x, TAL Education (TAL) 7.0x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

TAL Education (TAL) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Laureate Education (LAUR) +17.9%, Strategic Education (STRA) +3.5%, TAL Education (TAL) +32.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

TAL Education (TAL) has the highest net margin (Laureate Education (LAUR) 17.6%, Strategic Education (STRA) 10.5%, TAL Education (TAL) 28.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Laureate Education (LAUR) returned the most: Laureate Education (LAUR) +31.1%, Strategic Education (STRA) -2.3%, TAL Education (TAL) -19.6%. Over five years, Laureate Education (LAUR) compounded fastest (Laureate Education (LAUR) +17.6%/yr, Strategic Education (STRA) +2.8%/yr, TAL Education (TAL) +16.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Laureate Education (LAUR) 0.00%, Strategic Education (STRA) 0.03%, TAL Education (TAL) 0.00%. Laureate Education (LAUR) and TAL Education (TAL) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Laureate Education (LAUR) has been the steadiest (Laureate Education (LAUR) 32.9%, Strategic Education (STRA) 36.0%, TAL Education (TAL) 44.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, LAUR, STRA and TAL?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, TAL Education (TAL) 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.