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PRDO or LOPE: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors with an interest in Schools stocks have likely encountered both Perdoceo Education (PRDO - Free Report) and Grand Canyon Education (LOPE - Free Report) . But which of these two companies is the best option for those looking for undervalued stocks? Let's take a closer look.

The best way to find great value stocks is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The proven Zacks Rank puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Perdoceo Education has a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), while Grand Canyon Education has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now. This system places an emphasis on companies that have seen positive earnings estimate revisions, so investors should feel comfortable knowing that PRDO is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. However, value investors will care about much more than just this.

Value investors also tend to look at a number of traditional, tried-and-true figures to help them find stocks that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category highlights undervalued companies by looking at a variety of key metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, as well as the P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that have been used by value investors for years.

PRDO currently has a forward P/E ratio of 8.74, while LOPE has a forward P/E of 16.64. We also note that PRDO has a PEG ratio of 0.58. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. LOPE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.11.

Another notable valuation metric for PRDO is its P/B ratio of 1.40. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, LOPE has a P/B of 5.29.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to PRDO's Value grade of A and LOPE's Value grade of C.

PRDO sticks out from LOPE in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that PRDO is the better option right now.


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Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) - free report >>

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