Investors interested in Schools stocks are likely familiar with Adtalem Global Education (ATGE) and Grand Canyon Education (LOPE). But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? Let's take a closer look.
The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.
Right now, Adtalem Global Education is sporting a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Grand Canyon Education has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that ATGE is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.
Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.
The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.
ATGE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 12.60, while LOPE has a forward P/E of 20.76. We also note that ATGE has a PEG ratio of 0.84. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. LOPE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.38.
Another notable valuation metric for ATGE is its P/B ratio of 2.44. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, LOPE has a P/B of 6.87.
Based on these metrics and many more, ATGE holds a Value grade of A, while LOPE has a Value grade of C.
ATGE has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than LOPE, so it seems like value investors will conclude that ATGE is the superior option right now.
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Adtalem Global Education Inc. (ATGE): Free Stock Analysis Report Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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