Stride vs Strategic Education
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The short version
- Stride is the larger business, with $2.5B of revenue in fiscal 2026 against $1.3B for Strategic Education, about 2.0 times as much.
- Stride grew revenue faster (4.7%, against 4.0%).
- Stride kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (17.9% operating margin, against 13.7%).
- Stride turned more of its sales into free cash flow (17.2% FCF margin, against 12.1%).
- Stride earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (31.3%, against 8.4%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Strategic Education’s earnings: a P/E of 13.6x against 11.0x for Stride.
| Latest fiscal year | LRN · FY26 | STRA · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $3.6B | $1.8B |
| Revenue | $2.5B | $1.3B |
| Free cash flow | $433M | $154M |
| Net income | $338M | $127M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.7% | 4.0% |
| 5-year growth | 10.4% | 4.3% |
| Share count change | −2.2% | −3.1% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 37.8% | — |
| Operating margin | 17.9% | 13.7% |
| Net margin | 13.4% | 10.0% |
| FCF margin | 17.2% | 12.1% |
| Return on capital | 31.3% | 8.4% |
| Return on equity | 21.7% | 7.7% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$423M | −$148M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −0.7x | −0.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $189M | $196M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 11.0x | 13.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY17
LRN $889M
STRA $455M
FY18
LRN $918M
STRA $634M
FY19
LRN $1.0B
STRA $997M
FY20
LRN $1.0B
STRA $1.0B
FY21
LRN $1.5B
STRA $1.1B
FY22
LRN $1.7B
STRA $1.1B
FY23
LRN $1.8B
STRA $1.1B
FY24
LRN $2.0B
STRA $1.2B
FY25
LRN $2.4B
STRA $1.3B
FY26
LRN $2.5B
STRA —
LRN
STRA
Operating margin
FY17
LRN 1.5%
STRA 11.5%
FY18
LRN 2.8%
STRA −3.6%
FY19
LRN 4.5%
STRA 11.1%
FY20
LRN 3.1%
STRA 10.6%
FY21
LRN 7.2%
STRA 6.5%
FY22
LRN 9.3%
STRA 6.6%
FY23
LRN 9.0%
STRA 8.4%
FY24
LRN 12.2%
STRA 12.8%
FY25
LRN 15.0%
STRA 13.7%
FY26
LRN 17.9%
STRA —
LRN
STRA
Free cash flow
FY17
LRN $86.6M
STRA $38.1M
FY18
LRN $96.7M
STRA $19.3M
FY19
LRN $136M
STRA $163M
FY20
LRN $78.7M
STRA $96.1M
FY21
LRN $131M
STRA $131M
FY22
LRN $197M
STRA $82.9M
FY23
LRN $199M
STRA $80.2M
FY24
LRN $277M
STRA $129M
FY25
LRN $431M
STRA $154M
FY26
LRN $433M
STRA —
LRN
STRA
Return on capital
FY17
LRN —
STRA —
FY18
LRN —
STRA —
FY19
LRN —
STRA —
FY20
LRN —
STRA 6.1%
FY21
LRN —
STRA 3.3%
FY22
LRN 13.5%
STRA 3.1%
FY23
LRN 13.6%
STRA 4.4%
FY24
LRN 20.5%
STRA 7.3%
FY25
LRN 27.9%
STRA 8.4%
FY26
LRN 31.3%
STRA —
LRN
STRA
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.