Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. PRDO scored 77.3, STRA scored 65.5 — PRDO leads.
Compare another set
PRDO
Perdoceo Education Corporation
Education & Training Services · Quality-Growth
77.3
$33.71 · $2.1B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
11.8
PRDO 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
CheapestPRDO12.3x
Fastest growthPRDO+11.7%
Strongest balance sheetSTRA0.07
Highest qualityPRDO89 / 100
Largest discount to fair valuePRDO-52%
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)
PRDO
stronger →← stronger
STRA
89
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
69
72
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
59
72
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
68
PRDO is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
PRDO
STRA
$221mC
FCF
$169mC
+11.7%B
Rev
+3.5%C+
0.11A
D/E
0.07A
12.3xA-
P/E
13.8xA-
0.68A-
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
PRDO
STRA
52% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
28% below
~-12%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-4%/yr
+102%
1-yr DCF upside
+37%
+107%
5-yr DCF upside
+38%
+113%
10-yr DCF upside
+40%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
PRDO
Why this score
Buying back stock
Raising its dividend
Durable high returns
STRA
Why this score
Buying back stock
The companies
PRDOPerdoceo Education Corporation
Education & Training Services · $33.71 · beta 0.72
Why now
Education & Training Services · market cap $2.1b. 12% off the 52-week high of $38.50. Revenue growing +12%, comfortably above the S&P median. PEG 0.68 — paying under fair value for the growth rate.
Moat
Net margin 21% sits well above the S&P median (~11%) — suggests structural pricing advantage or cost discipline competitors can't quickly close. ROE 17% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. 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.
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
PRDO leads STRA by 5.8 points (78.4 to 72.6), its sharpest advantage coming in Rev (grade B). 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 PRDO and STRA diverge
On the headline score the gap is 11.8 points in favor of PRDO. The widest single difference is Quality, where PRDO leads by 20.0 points.
QualityPRDO 89.4 · STRA 69.4PRDO +20.0
GrowthPRDO 71.7 · STRA 59.0PRDO +12.7
ValuePRDO 72.0 · STRA 68.5PRDO +3.5
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 PRDO or STRA the better stock?
PRDO scores higher: PRDO 77.3, 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 PRDO and STRA differ most?
The widest gap is quality, where PRDO leads by 20 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. PRDO leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are PRDO 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.