KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. (KLC) vs Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC)

KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. and Lincoln Educational Services Corporation are both Education & Training Services companies. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $556.7M against $237.0M — 2.3× the size. KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. has negative trailing earnings, so its P/E is not meaningful; Lincoln Educational Services Corporation trades at 24.0×. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 22.0% against 1.79%. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation has the higher net margin (3.99% vs −17.2%) and the higher return on invested capital (9.83% vs −20.9%). Across the 18 metrics below, Lincoln Educational Services Corporation leads on 13 and KinderCare Learning Companies, Inc. on 5.

Valuation

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
P/E n/m 24.03 12.09
P/S 0.09 0.96 0.80
P/B 0.51 2.71 1.39
Price to free cash flow 2.93 22.39 7.31
EV/EBITDA n/m 9.10 6.36
EV/Sales 0.36 0.98 0.58
Earnings yield (199.00%) 4.16% 3.29%
Free cash flow yield 34.14% 4.47% 3.03%

Profitability

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
Gross margin 19.17% 59.84% 55.03%
Operating margin (14.89%) 5.91% 0.00%
Net margin (17.23%) 3.99% 1.77%
Free cash flow margin 2.97% 4.29% 0.00%
Return on equity (67.78%) 11.90% 0.00%
Return on assets (13.10%) 4.67% 0.00%
Return on invested capital (20.89%) 9.83% 0.00%

Growth

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
Revenue growth (TTM) 1.79% 22.02% 5.84%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 1.04% 100.00% 14.71%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR — 12.07% 4.24%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR — (15.78%) 0.00%

Health

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
Debt to equity 1.99 0.28 0.05
Current ratio 0.75 0.96 1.37
Net debt to EBITDA 7.22 0.04 (0.04)

Dividend

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
Dividend yield — — 2.64%
Payout ratio — — 0.26

Size

Metric KLC LINC Education & Training Services median
Market cap 237.04m 556.71m 59.54m

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