Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Education & Training Services
Perdoceo Education Corporation PRDO
$31.91 +0.28% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $2.00B
High qualityInexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +5.2%).
- The stock is in a downtrend: below its 200-day average, with the 50-day average below the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $858.6M, up 11.7% from a year earlier, slowing from 17.7% a quarter earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Consumer Defensive sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth58Neutral
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 20%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 29%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 47%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 31%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 9%
Quality96Exceptional
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 15%
- Gross marginTop 3%
- Operating marginTop 6%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 25%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 28%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 4%
- Interest coverTop 15%
Value84Strong
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 7%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 20%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 3%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 45%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 30%
Momentum42Weak
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 42%
- 6-month returnBottom 35%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 47%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 28%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 22%
Revisions68Positive
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersBottom 41%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 2%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 30%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 34%
Stability68Positive
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 35%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 15%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 37%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 4%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 17.7% | 11.7% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 15.5% | 18.6% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 78.9% | 77.1% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 24.1% | 24.6% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 26.7% | 25.4% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 11.7% | 17.7% | ↓ | Top 20% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 18.6% | 15.5% | ↑ | Top 29% |
| Gross margin | 77.1% | 78.9% | ↓ | Top 3% |
| Operating margin | 24.6% | 24.1% | ↑ | Top 6% |
| Net margin | 20.6% | 20.1% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 25.4% | 26.7% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 13.6% | — | Top 15% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 6.8% | — | Top 31% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.27×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -3.6%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.4%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -1.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -3.05×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 34.1×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.94%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 4.43%
- Shareholder yield
- 6.37%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -4.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.5%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.3%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $44.00
- Target vs current price
- +37.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 9
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 33%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | +2.7% | -1.8% | -5.1% | +0.2% | — |
| May 7, 2026 | +2.4% | +1.0% | +2.4% | +0.1% | -4.5% |
| Feb 19, 2026 | +9.3% | -1.3% | +4.4% | +7.3% | +9.7% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | +6.6% | +0.4% | -0.6% | -7.4% | +3.7% |
| Jul 31, 2025 | +3.1% | +0.5% | +9.2% | +14.7% | +28.6% |
| May 1, 2025 | +6.1% | +0.2% | +20.8% | +31.2% | +13.0% |
| Feb 18, 2025 | +4.2% | +1.2% | -8.2% | -12.5% | +10.0% |
| Nov 12, 2024 | +11.3% | -2.2% | +5.4% | +8.3% | +11.9% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | $0.77 | $0.75 | +2.7% | $213.4M |
| May 7, 2026 | $0.86 | $0.84 | +2.4% | $221.7M |
| Feb 19, 2026 | $0.59 | $0.54 | +9.3% | $211.6M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $0.65 | $0.61 | +6.6% | $211.9M |
| Jul 31, 2025 | $0.67 | $0.65 | +3.1% | $209.6M |
| May 1, 2025 | $0.70 | $0.66 | +6.1% | $213.0M |
| Feb 18, 2025 | $0.50 | $0.48 | +4.2% | $176.4M |
| Nov 12, 2024 | $0.59 | $0.53 | +11.3% | $169.8M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 11.6× | 8.7× | 62th | Top 7% |
| P/E (forward) | 10.9× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 4.2× | — | — | Top 3% |
| EV / Sales | 1.35× | — | — | Bottom 45% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 10.89% | — | — | Top 20% |
| Earnings yield | 8.59% | — | — | Top 7% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 6.5× – 13.3× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- -14.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +18.6%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -5.0%
Most of the move came from earnings growth.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✗ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -1.4%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.6%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -3.6%
- RSI (14)
- 49.1
- Relative volume
- 1.02×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 43.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 87th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.53
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.22
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -15.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -27.2%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 24, 2021 | Nov 30, 2021 | -28.9% | 194 days | 167 days (Aug 1, 2022) |
| Aug 1, 2022 | Sep 26, 2022 | -27.4% | 39 days | 33 days (Nov 10, 2022) |
| Sep 30, 2025 | Nov 24, 2025 | -27.2% | 39 days | 82 days (Mar 25, 2026) |
| Feb 3, 2023 | May 31, 2023 | -24.5% | 80 days | 45 days (Aug 4, 2023) |
| Apr 6, 2026 | Jul 22, 2026 | -22.5% | 74 days | Not yet recovered |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $2.00B
- P/E (TTM)
- 11.6
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $2.74
- Revenue (TTM)
- $858.6M
- Dividend yield
- 1.94%
- 52-week range
- $26.66 – $38.50
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $693.0M | $695.2M | $710.0M | $681.3M | $846.1M |
| Gross profit | $584.3M | $578.5M | $579.7M | $560.4M | $606.9M |
| Operating income | $149.0M | $129.6M | $150.4M | $174.3M | $196.0M |
| Net income | $109.6M | $95.9M | $147.7M | $147.6M | $159.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.55 | $1.39 | $2.18 | $2.19 | $2.42 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $169.8M | $176.4M | $213.0M | $209.6M | $211.9M | $211.6M | $221.7M | $213.4M |
| Net income | $38.3M | $31.5M | $43.7M | $41.0M | $39.9M | $35.3M | $54.0M | $48.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $0.57 | $0.47 | $0.65 | $0.62 | $0.60 | $0.54 | $0.85 | $0.75 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $191.1M | $148.2M | $112.0M | $161.6M | $225.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$10.5M | -$12.6M | -$6.4M | -$4.6M | -$8.6M |
| Free cash flow | $180.7M | $135.6M | $105.6M | $157.0M | $216.7M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | -$14.4M | -$31.7M | -$36.9M |
| Net share buybacks | -$24.4M | -$21.9M | -$5.8M | -$4.5M | -$119.2M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $1.47B
- Total assets
- $1.33B
- Total liabilities
- $301.1M
- Total debt
- $56.6M
- Net debt
- -$841.1M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.03B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 1, 2026 | $0.17 | Sep 10, 2026 |
| Jun 1, 2026 | $0.15 | Jun 12, 2026 |
| Mar 2, 2026 | $0.15 | Mar 13, 2026 |
| Nov 28, 2025 | $0.15 | Dec 12, 2025 |
| Sep 2, 2025 | $0.15 | Sep 12, 2025 |
| May 30, 2025 | $0.13 | Jun 13, 2025 |
| Feb 28, 2025 | $0.13 | Mar 13, 2025 |
| Dec 2, 2024 | $0.13 | Dec 13, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 4,063,408
- Days to cover
- 8.62
- Change vs previous report
- -8.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 25, 2003
- 2-for-1
- Oct 1, 2001
- 2-for-1
- Aug 28, 2000
- 2-for-1