Laureate Education (LAUR) and Its Competitors Critical Comparison

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) is one of 165 publicly-traded companies in the “Diversified Consumer Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare Laureate Education to related companies based on the strength of its profitability, dividends, risk, valuation, earnings, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Laureate Education and its rivals, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laureate Education	1	2	3	1	2.57
Laureate Education Competitors	1442	3454	5299	197	2.41

Laureate Education currently has a consensus target price of $40.90, suggesting a potential upside of 16.70%. As a group, “Diversified Consumer Services” companies have a potential upside of 63.70%. Given Laureate Education’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Laureate Education has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Volatility & Risk

Laureate Education has a beta of 0.45, meaning that its share price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laureate Education’s rivals have a beta of 0.53, meaning that their average share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Laureate Education and its rivals top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Laureate Education	$1.70 billion	$281.63 million	12.84
Laureate Education Competitors	$3.26 billion	$221.82 million	15.41

Laureate Education’s rivals have higher revenue, but lower earnings than Laureate Education. Laureate Education is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

96.3% of Laureate Education shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.0% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 1.5% of Laureate Education shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 19.5% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Laureate Education and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laureate Education	20.28%	26.41%	12.76%
Laureate Education Competitors	-3.82%	-29.65%	2.33%

Summary

Laureate Education beats its rivals on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

About Laureate Education

Laureate Education, Inc. operates a network of private higher education institutions in Mexico and Peru. Its principal institutions are Universidad del Valle de México (UVM) and Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC). The company offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as other academic and professional education, across fields that include business, health sciences, engineering and technology. Its institutions serve students through campus-based and digital learning options.