Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. LRN scored 70.7, STRA scored 65.5 — LRN leads.
Compare another set
LRN
Stride, Inc.
Education & Training Services · Quality-Growth
70.7
$85.59 · $3.6B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
5.2
LRN leads
STRA
Strategic Education, Inc.
Education & Training Services · Quality-Growth
65.5
$82.39 · $1.8B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestLRN12.0x
Fastest growthLRN+4.7%
Strongest balance sheetSTRA0.07
Highest qualityLRN85 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueLRN-36%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
LRN
stronger →← stronger
STRA
85
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
69
53
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
59
78
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
68
LRN is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
LRN
STRA
$355mC
FCF
$169mC
+4.7%C+
Rev
+3.5%C+
0.33A-
D/E
0.07A
12.0xA
P/E
13.8xA-
0.48A
PEG
0.67A-
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
LRN
STRA
36% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
28% below
~-6%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-4%/yr
+52%
1-yr DCF upside
+37%
+57%
5-yr DCF upside
+38%
+64%
10-yr DCF upside
+40%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
LRN
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
STRA
Why this score
Buying back stock
The companies
LRNStride, Inc.
Education & Training Services · $85.59 · beta 0.14
Why now
Education & Training Services · market cap $3.6b. Down 45% from 52-week high of $155.06 — deep drawdown territory. PEG 0.48 — paying under fair value for the growth rate.
Moat
Net margin 13% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 22% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 105% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Down 45% from the 52-week high — the market is pricing in something the screen can't see; verify the bear case before sizing up.
STRAStrategic Education, Inc.
Education & Training Services · $82.39 · beta 0.47
Why now
Education & Training Services · market cap $1.8b. 8% off the 52-week high of $89.73. PEG 0.67 — paying under fair value for the growth rate. 3 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $96.67 (implying +17% upside).
Moat
FCF converts 125% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Value re-rating depends on a catalyst. Without one — analyst day, divestiture, margin recovery, capital return — the stock can stay cheap on these multiples for years.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
LRN leads STRA by 8.6 points (81.2 to 72.6), its sharpest advantage coming in P/E (grade A). A contrarian could still prefer STRA, which trades about 46% below our DCF fair value — a margin of safety the score doesn't reward.
Our AI analyst is busy right now, so this verdict is drawn directly from the pillars, grades and DCF above.
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where LRN and STRA diverge
On the headline score the gap is 5.2 points in favor of LRN. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
QualityLRN 84.9 · STRA 69.4LRN +15.5
ValueLRN 77.8 · STRA 68.5LRN +9.3
GrowthLRN 53.4 · STRA 59.0STRA +5.6
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is LRN or STRA the better stock?
LRN scores higher: LRN 70.7, STRA 65.5 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do LRN and STRA differ most?
The widest gap is quality, where LRN leads by 16 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. Neither name sweeps: they trade the lead across the three pillars, so the comparison is a trade-off rather than one being better on every measure.
How are LRN and STRA scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.