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

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Investors looking for stocks in the Schools sector might want to consider either Perdoceo Education (PRDO - Free Report) or Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks presents investors with the better value opportunity right now? 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 Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Both Perdoceo Education and Lincoln Educational Services Corporation have a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy) right now. The Zacks Rank favors stocks that have recently seen positive revisions to their earnings estimates, so investors should rest assured that both of these companies have improving earnings outlooks. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

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 13.10, while LINC has a forward P/E of 32.01. We also note that PRDO has a PEG ratio of 0.87. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. LINC currently has a PEG ratio of 2.13.

Another notable valuation metric for PRDO is its P/B ratio of 2.2. The P/B ratio is used to compare a stock's market value with its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, LINC has a P/B of 4.1.

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

Both PRDO and LINC are impressive stocks with solid earnings outlooks, but based on these valuation figures, we feel that PRDO is the superior value option right now.


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Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC) - free report >>

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