Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC) vs Strategic Education Inc. (STRA)

Lincoln Educational Services Corporation and Strategic Education Inc. are both Education & Training Services companies. Strategic Education Inc. is the larger, with a market value of $1.8B against $715.6M — 2.6× the size. Strategic Education Inc. trades at the lower P/E: 13.2× against 30.4×. Lincoln Educational Services Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 22.0% against 3.53%. Strategic Education Inc. has the higher net margin (10.5% vs 3.99%) and the lower return on invested capital (7.49% vs 9.83%). Across the 22 metrics below, Strategic Education Inc. leads on 14 and Lincoln Educational Services Corporation on 8.

Valuation

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
P/E 30.44 13.22 13.22
P/S 1.22 1.35 0.99
P/B 3.43 1.06 1.62
Price to free cash flow 28.36 10.18 10.06
EV/EBITDA 11.47 7.37 8.56
EV/Sales 1.24 1.30 0.78
Earnings yield 3.29% 7.56% 3.17%
Free cash flow yield 3.53% 9.82% 2.81%

Profitability

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
Gross margin 59.84% 49.06% 54.64%
Operating margin 5.91% 14.01% 0.00%
Net margin 3.99% 10.46% 2.98%
Free cash flow margin 4.29% 13.28% 0.00%
Return on equity 11.90% 8.15% 0.00%
Return on assets 4.67% 6.47% 0.00%
Return on invested capital 9.83% 7.49% 0.00%

Growth

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
Revenue growth (TTM) 22.02% 3.53% 6.97%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 100.00% 15.85% 15.68%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 12.07% 4.30% 4.27%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (15.78%) 7.98% 0.00%

Health

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
Debt to equity 0.28 0.00 0.05
Current ratio 0.96 1.10 1.33
Net debt to EBITDA 0.04 (0.66) (0.15)

Dividend

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
Dividend yield — 2.95% 1.84%
Payout ratio — 0.40 0.23

Size

Metric LINC STRA Education & Training Services median
Market cap 715.63m 1.83b 68.84m

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