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Should Value Investors Buy American Public Education (APEI) Stock?

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While the proven Zacks Rank places an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions to find strong stocks, we also know that investors tend to develop their own individual strategies. With this in mind, we are always looking at value, growth, and momentum trends to discover great companies.

Of these, value investing is easily one of the most popular ways to find great stocks in any market environment. Value investors rely on traditional forms of analysis on key valuation metrics to find stocks that they believe are undervalued, leaving room for profits.

Luckily, Zacks has developed its own Style Scores system in an effort to find stocks with specific traits. Value investors will be interested in the system's "Value" category. Stocks with both "A" grades in the Value category and high Zacks Ranks are among the strongest value stocks on the market right now.

One company to watch right now is American Public Education (APEI - Free Report) . APEI is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy), as well as a Value grade of A. The stock is trading with a P/E ratio of 18.65, which compares to its industry's average of 23.65. Over the past year, APEI's Forward P/E has been as high as 4,091.70 and as low as -731.64, with a median of -6.11.

Investors will also notice that APEI has a PEG ratio of 1.24. 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. APEI's industry has an average PEG of 1.51 right now. APEI's PEG has been as high as 272.78 and as low as -48.78, with a median of -0.41, all within the past year.

Investors could also keep in mind Stride (LRN - Free Report) , an Schools stock with a Zacks Rank of # 1 (Strong Buy) and Value grade of A.

Shares of Stride are currently trading at a forward earnings multiple of 12.48 and a PEG ratio of 0.62 compared to its industry's P/E and PEG ratios of 23.65 and 1.51, respectively.

Over the past year, LRN's P/E has been as high as 16.03, as low as 11.76, with a median of 13.52; its PEG ratio has been as high as 0.80, as low as 0.59, with a median of -0.41 during the same time period.

Furthermore, Stride holds a P/B ratio of 2.40 and its industry's price-to-book ratio is 3.86. LRN's P/B has been as high as 2.79, as low as 1.63, with a median of 2.02 over the past 12 months.

These are just a handful of the figures considered in American Public Education and Stride's great Value grade. Still, they help show that the stock is likely being undervalued at the moment. Add this to the strength of its earnings outlook, and we can clearly see that APEI and LRN is an impressive value stock right now.


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