Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. STRA scored 65.5, LAUR scored 78.5 — LAUR leads.
Compare another set
STRA
Strategic Education, Inc.
Education & Training Services · Quality-Growth
65.5
$82.39 · $1.8B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
13.0
LAUR leads
LAUR
Laureate Education, Inc.
Education & Training Services · Quality-Growth
78.5
$39.47 · $5.4B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestSTRA13.8x
Fastest growthLAUR+17.9%
Strongest balance sheetSTRA0.07
Highest qualityLAUR91 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueSTRA-28%
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)
STRA
stronger →← stronger
LAUR
69
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
91
59
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
84
68
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
63
LAUR is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
STRA
LAUR
$169mC
FCF
$287mC
+3.5%C+
Rev
+17.9%B+
0.07A
D/E
0.64B+
13.8xA-
P/E
17.9xB
0.67A-
PEG
1.09B+
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
STRA
LAUR
28% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
1% above
~-4%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~10%/yr
+37%
1-yr DCF upside
-14%
+38%
5-yr DCF upside
-1%
+40%
10-yr DCF upside
+20%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
STRA
Why this score
Buying back stock
LAUR
Why this score
Buying back stock
Durable high returns
The companies
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.
LAURLaureate Education, Inc.
Education & Training Services · $39.47 · beta 0.47
Why now
Education & Training Services · market cap $5.4b. 4% off the 52-week high of $40.92. Revenue growing +18%, comfortably above the S&P median. 7 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $41.21 (implying +4% upside).
Moat
Net margin 18% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 28% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which.
Risk
Mature compounder — the risk is paying up for quality at a moment when growth is decelerating. Watch for sequential revenue + margin trends; the inflection from "compounder" to "ex-compounder" is hard to spot until the multiple already started compressing.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
LAUR leads STRA by 1.7 points (74.3 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. Note they play different roles — LAUR screens as growth, STRA screens as value — so the model rewards different traits for each.
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 STRA and LAUR diverge
On the headline score the gap is 13.0 points in favor of LAUR. They get there differently, though — each leads on a different pillar, so the better pick depends on which you weight.
GrowthSTRA 59.0 · LAUR 84.0LAUR +25.0
QualitySTRA 69.4 · LAUR 90.7LAUR +21.3
ValueSTRA 68.5 · LAUR 63.4STRA +5.1
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 LAUR or STRA the better stock?
LAUR scores higher: LAUR 78.5, 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 LAUR and STRA differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where LAUR leads by 25 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 LAUR 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.