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

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Investors with an interest in Schools stocks have likely encountered both Strategic Education (STRA - Free Report) and 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.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The proven Zacks Rank emphasizes companies with positive estimate revision trends, and our Style Scores highlight stocks with specific traits.

Strategic Education has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Lincoln Educational Services Corporation 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 STRA is likely seeing its earnings outlook improve to a greater extent. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

Our Value category grades stocks based on a number of key metrics, including the tried-and-true P/E ratio, the P/S ratio, earnings yield, and cash flow per share, as well as a variety of other fundamentals that value investors frequently use.

STRA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 10.72, while LINC has a forward P/E of 60.74. We also note that STRA has a PEG ratio of 0.71. This figure is similar to the commonly-used P/E ratio, with the PEG ratio also factoring in a company's expected earnings growth rate. LINC currently has a PEG ratio of 4.05.

Another notable valuation metric for STRA is its P/B ratio of 1.07. The P/B ratio pits a stock's market value against its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. For comparison, LINC has a P/B of 7.59.

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

STRA has seen stronger estimate revision activity and sports more attractive valuation metrics than LINC, so it seems like value investors will conclude that STRA is the superior option right now.

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