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Stride vs. Coursera: Which Online Learning Stock is a Better Buy?
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Key Takeaways
Stride's average enrollment grew 20.4% in fiscal 2025, led by 32.5% growth in Career Learning.
Coursera's generative AI courses topped 925, with enrollments surpassing 10 million.
LRN trades at a lower P/E and boasts a 25.5% ROE, signaling stronger value versus COUR.
Renowned names in the online education sector, such as Stride, Inc. (LRN - Free Report) and Coursera, Inc. (COUR - Free Report) , are benefiting from the shift in demand toward digital educational alternatives. Over the past few years, this shift has intensified as technological evolution reaches its peak and AI-focused alternatives are readily available with a single click.
Stride is currently working on capitalizing on the ongoing market trends by focusing on making meaningful investments across all its programs, especially on the career platform, and seeking ways to incorporate AI. On the other hand, Coursera is moving forward with its strategic plan of product innovation, content expansion and go-to-market execution, all surrounding AI integration.
Let’s dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals of the two stocks to determine which one is a better investment now.
The Case for Stride Stock
This Virginia-based education company is witnessing record enrollment growth trends, driven by demand strength for online full-time K-12 programs and career education programs. This, coupled with ongoing regulatory reform trends and its strategic business initiatives, is catalyzing the growth prospects. In fiscal 2025, Stride witnessed an average enrollment growth of 20.4% year over year, with the General Education segment’s enrollment going up 13.2% and the same for the Career Learning segment, increasing 32.5%. The company expects enrollment growth to be between 10% and 15% year over year for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, positioning it well for fiscal 2026 and beyond.
As students and parents are inclining toward tech-based alternatives and career-focused programs, Stride is working on gradually incorporating AI in its programs in a responsible and impactful manner. Moreover, the K12 Tutoring offering is helping the company become a top choice among other market players.
In fiscal 2025, its tutoring services gained traction, with several states in the United States recognizing the importance of tutoring in shaping children throughout K-12 education. On March 24, 2025, Stride’s K12 Tutoring collaborated with Lake Forest School District in Delaware to offer innovative and tailored educational solutions to students. This strategic transaction highlights Stride’s efforts in fueling its growth prospects through tutoring services.
Although macroeconomic challenges, such as inflationary pressures and prospective changes in the education market, are concerning for LRN’s growth, the in-house strategies and favorable market shifts are mitigating the risk factors.
The Case for Coursera Stock
This California-based higher education and professional upskilling provider is heavily invested in incorporating AI-powered features across its offerings to enhance learner engagement and personalization. As of the second quarter of 2025, Coursera highlighted that its generative AI catalog has more than 925 courses, which have tripled year over year, with enrollments surpassing 10 million in generative AI courses.
Apart from this milestone, the company also shed light on new courses and certificates focused on job-specific generative AI skills, including offerings from renowned names, like AWS, DeepLearning.AI, Google Cloud, IBM, Microsoft, Snowflake and more. Besides the efforts in incorporating AI into its system, Coursera is shifting its focus to offering career-aligned learning, going hand-in-hand with the market trends. In July 2025, the company announced four new entry-level professional certificates from existing partners ADP, IBM, Microsoft and SAP, alongside its debut certificate from Zoho. These certificates offer the necessary skills required to kickstart a career in roles from AI product manager to sales representative.
During the first half of 2025, Coursera’s revenues grew year over year by 8%, driven by an 18% increase in the average total number of Registered Learners and a 15% increase in the average total number of Paid Enterprise Customers. Besides, growth in subscription revenues from Coursera Plus and increased new customer volume further aided the performance. Owing to the robust trends, the company laid out an upbeat third-quarter and 2025 revenue outlook. Third-quarter revenues are expected to be between $188 million and $192 million, up from $176.1 million reported in the year-ago quarter, while full-year revenues are expected in the range of $738-$746 million, reflecting growth from $694.7 million reported in 2024.
Amid tailwinds, Coursera is facing headwinds, mainly in the form of lower retention of paid learners as well as customers in the Consumer and Enterprise segments, globally. Besides this, the company is susceptible to budgetary constraints and cautious corporate spending.
Stock Performance & Valuation
As witnessed from the chart below, year to date, Stride’s share price performance stands above Coursera's.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Considering valuation, over the last five years, Stride is trading below Coursera on a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio basis. The undervaluation of LRN compared with COUR advocates for a comparatively attractive entry point for investors in favor of the former.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Comparing EPS Estimate Trends: LRN vs. COUR
LRN’s earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have moved north over the past 30 days. The revised estimated figures for fiscal 2026 and 2027 imply year-over-year growth of 8.8% and 10.2%, respectively.
LRN's EPS Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COUR’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has remained unchanged over the past 60 days. However, the estimated figures of 2025 and 2026 reflect 14.7% and 16.5% year-over-year growth, respectively.
COUR's EPS Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Return on Equity (ROE) of LRN & COUR Stocks
Stride’s trailing 12-month ROE of 25.5% significantly exceeds Coursera’s average, underscoring its efficiency in generating shareholder returns.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Which Stock to Choose: LRN or COUR?
The U.S. online education market remains buoyed by rising adoption of digital and AI-driven learning platforms. Both Stride and Coursera are strategically positioned to benefit from these structural shifts, though their investment appeal differs.
Stride, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is experiencing benefits from the market trends alongside its in-house efforts, like diversified product offerings. Its growing K12 Tutoring platform and partnerships, accompanied by proactive AI integration across career and general education programs, are enhancing its growth prospects. On the other hand, Coursera, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), is witnessing growth through expanding AI course offerings and new partnerships with major tech firms, alongside benefiting from the market trends.
However, LRN’s steady earnings momentum and a favorable ROE position advocate for a better investment option than COUR, which is further substantiated by LRN stock’s relative undervaluation compared with COUR stock. Thus, Stride’s stronger profitability, consistent estimate revisions and attractive valuation make it the preferred investment choice over Coursera in the evolving EdTech landscape. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Stride vs. Coursera: Which Online Learning Stock is a Better Buy?
Key Takeaways
Renowned names in the online education sector, such as Stride, Inc. (LRN - Free Report) and Coursera, Inc. (COUR - Free Report) , are benefiting from the shift in demand toward digital educational alternatives. Over the past few years, this shift has intensified as technological evolution reaches its peak and AI-focused alternatives are readily available with a single click.
Stride is currently working on capitalizing on the ongoing market trends by focusing on making meaningful investments across all its programs, especially on the career platform, and seeking ways to incorporate AI. On the other hand, Coursera is moving forward with its strategic plan of product innovation, content expansion and go-to-market execution, all surrounding AI integration.
Let’s dive deep and closely compare the fundamentals of the two stocks to determine which one is a better investment now.
The Case for Stride Stock
This Virginia-based education company is witnessing record enrollment growth trends, driven by demand strength for online full-time K-12 programs and career education programs. This, coupled with ongoing regulatory reform trends and its strategic business initiatives, is catalyzing the growth prospects. In fiscal 2025, Stride witnessed an average enrollment growth of 20.4% year over year, with the General Education segment’s enrollment going up 13.2% and the same for the Career Learning segment, increasing 32.5%. The company expects enrollment growth to be between 10% and 15% year over year for the first quarter of fiscal 2026, positioning it well for fiscal 2026 and beyond.
As students and parents are inclining toward tech-based alternatives and career-focused programs, Stride is working on gradually incorporating AI in its programs in a responsible and impactful manner. Moreover, the K12 Tutoring offering is helping the company become a top choice among other market players.
In fiscal 2025, its tutoring services gained traction, with several states in the United States recognizing the importance of tutoring in shaping children throughout K-12 education. On March 24, 2025, Stride’s K12 Tutoring collaborated with Lake Forest School District in Delaware to offer innovative and tailored educational solutions to students. This strategic transaction highlights Stride’s efforts in fueling its growth prospects through tutoring services.
Although macroeconomic challenges, such as inflationary pressures and prospective changes in the education market, are concerning for LRN’s growth, the in-house strategies and favorable market shifts are mitigating the risk factors.
The Case for Coursera Stock
This California-based higher education and professional upskilling provider is heavily invested in incorporating AI-powered features across its offerings to enhance learner engagement and personalization. As of the second quarter of 2025, Coursera highlighted that its generative AI catalog has more than 925 courses, which have tripled year over year, with enrollments surpassing 10 million in generative AI courses.
Apart from this milestone, the company also shed light on new courses and certificates focused on job-specific generative AI skills, including offerings from renowned names, like AWS, DeepLearning.AI, Google Cloud, IBM, Microsoft, Snowflake and more. Besides the efforts in incorporating AI into its system, Coursera is shifting its focus to offering career-aligned learning, going hand-in-hand with the market trends. In July 2025, the company announced four new entry-level professional certificates from existing partners ADP, IBM, Microsoft and SAP, alongside its debut certificate from Zoho. These certificates offer the necessary skills required to kickstart a career in roles from AI product manager to sales representative.
During the first half of 2025, Coursera’s revenues grew year over year by 8%, driven by an 18% increase in the average total number of Registered Learners and a 15% increase in the average total number of Paid Enterprise Customers. Besides, growth in subscription revenues from Coursera Plus and increased new customer volume further aided the performance. Owing to the robust trends, the company laid out an upbeat third-quarter and 2025 revenue outlook. Third-quarter revenues are expected to be between $188 million and $192 million, up from $176.1 million reported in the year-ago quarter, while full-year revenues are expected in the range of $738-$746 million, reflecting growth from $694.7 million reported in 2024.
Amid tailwinds, Coursera is facing headwinds, mainly in the form of lower retention of paid learners as well as customers in the Consumer and Enterprise segments, globally. Besides this, the company is susceptible to budgetary constraints and cautious corporate spending.
Stock Performance & Valuation
As witnessed from the chart below, year to date, Stride’s share price performance stands above Coursera's.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Considering valuation, over the last five years, Stride is trading below Coursera on a forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio basis. The undervaluation of LRN compared with COUR advocates for a comparatively attractive entry point for investors in favor of the former.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Comparing EPS Estimate Trends: LRN vs. COUR
LRN’s earnings estimates for fiscal 2026 and 2027 have moved north over the past 30 days. The revised estimated figures for fiscal 2026 and 2027 imply year-over-year growth of 8.8% and 10.2%, respectively.
LRN's EPS Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COUR’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has remained unchanged over the past 60 days. However, the estimated figures of 2025 and 2026 reflect 14.7% and 16.5% year-over-year growth, respectively.
COUR's EPS Trend
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Return on Equity (ROE) of LRN & COUR Stocks
Stride’s trailing 12-month ROE of 25.5% significantly exceeds Coursera’s average, underscoring its efficiency in generating shareholder returns.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Which Stock to Choose: LRN or COUR?
The U.S. online education market remains buoyed by rising adoption of digital and AI-driven learning platforms. Both Stride and Coursera are strategically positioned to benefit from these structural shifts, though their investment appeal differs.
Stride, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), is experiencing benefits from the market trends alongside its in-house efforts, like diversified product offerings. Its growing K12 Tutoring platform and partnerships, accompanied by proactive AI integration across career and general education programs, are enhancing its growth prospects. On the other hand, Coursera, which currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), is witnessing growth through expanding AI course offerings and new partnerships with major tech firms, alongside benefiting from the market trends.
However, LRN’s steady earnings momentum and a favorable ROE position advocate for a better investment option than COUR, which is further substantiated by LRN stock’s relative undervaluation compared with COUR stock. Thus, Stride’s stronger profitability, consistent estimate revisions and attractive valuation make it the preferred investment choice over Coursera in the evolving EdTech landscape. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.