Is Stride Making a Long-Term Bet on Career-Driven High Schools?

Stride, Inc.’s LRN career-learning programs are in high demand amid the favorable market backdrop of parents favoring career-focused alternatives alongside mainstream K-12 learning programs. Besides, the company facilitating a diversified online education platform is further catalyzing the trends, as students and parents are now shifting from a traditional education approach to tech-based alternatives.

LRN is currently focusing on ways to expand its career learning and adult certification programs and seize feasible opportunities along the way. It offers career-focused programs to middle and high school students across highly demanded industries, including information technology, healthcare and general business. The interactive programs offered through this business allow Stride to enjoy a competitive advantage in the education industry.

Stride reports the proceedings from the career learning and adult certification programs under its Career Learning segment, which contributed 39.8% to its total revenues in the first nine months of fiscal 2025. During the same time frame, revenues from the Career Learning segment grew 23.7% year over year to $697.1 million, with the Middle-High School sub-segment growing 31.4%. Owing to the robust market fundamentals, the enrollment of this segment also witnessed a hike in the first nine months of fiscal 2025, growing 32% year over year, offering a favorable outlook into the long term.

With state budget processes ongoing, early indicators suggest a long-term positive funding environment. Moreover, LRN’s strategic investments to diversify its offerings, personalizing the learning model and improving user experience offer it a favorable pathway toward growth in the upcoming period.

Career-Focused Offerings Bode Well for Other Education Firms

Sharing space with LRN, other education companies, including Adtalem Global Education Inc. ATGE and Strategic Education, Inc. STRA, are benefiting from the current market fundamentals. With the increased demand for career professionals across business administration, accounting, information technology and healthcare industries, the demand for services offered by these market players is strong.

Adtalem is a healthcare education provider and workforce solutions innovator, with operations running through three segments, including Chamberlain, Walden and Medical and Veterinary. In the first nine months of fiscal 2025, Adtalem saw strong growth trends across Chamberlain and Walden universities, driven by pre-licensure and post-licensure nursing program growth, accompanied by robust demand for healthcare programs, driven by social and behavioral health and nursing, and non-healthcare programs.

Strategic Education offers a range of post-secondary education and other academic programs (in physical campuses and online) in business administration, accounting, information technology, education, health services administration, nursing and public administration. Strategic Education’s FlexPath, RightSkill and Workforce Edge programs offer innovative solutions to address the evolving needs of students and employers, with a strong focus on flexibility, career readiness and workforce alignment.

LRN Stock’s Price Performance & Valuation Trend

Shares of this Virginia-based education company have trended upward 38.9% in the year-to-date period, significantly outperforming the Zacks Schools industry, the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector and the S&P 500 index.

LRN stock is currently trading at a premium compared with the industry peers, with a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 18.68X, as evidenced by the chart below. The overvaluation of the stock compared with its industry peers indicates its strong potential in the market, given the favorable trends backing it up.

EPS Trend Favors LRN

Stride’s earnings estimates for fiscal 2025 and 2026 have trended upward in the past 60 days by 6.3% to $7.09 per share and 6.2% to $7.76 per share, respectively. The estimated figures for fiscal 2025 and 2026 imply year-over-year growth of 51.2% and 9.4%, respectively.

Earnings Estimate Revision

LRN stock currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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