Stocks · Consumer Defensive · Education & Training Services
Strategic Education, Inc. STRA
$79.72 +1.18% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $1.81B
Inexpensive vs sector
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 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
- The shares trade at 13.3× trailing earnings, lower than 95% of the company's own readings over the past five years.
- The diluted share count fell 8.6% in a year, mainly through buybacks.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $6.00, up 24.7% year over year.
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.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 50%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 27%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 22%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 33%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 43%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 43%
- Gross marginTop 25%
- Operating marginTop 23%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Bottom 44%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 39%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 19%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 13%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 24%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 17%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 42%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Top 15%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 48%
- 6-month returnTop 48%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 46%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 12%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 24%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 44%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 15%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 43%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 27%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 44%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 35%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 33%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Top 19%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 3.0% | 3.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 20.9% | 24.7% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 47.4% | 49.1% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 12.7% | 14.4% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 10.0% | 14.1% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 3.5% | 3.0% | ↑ | Top 50% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 24.7% | 20.9% | ↑ | Top 27% |
| Gross margin | 49.1% | 47.4% | ↑ | Top 25% |
| Operating margin | 14.4% | 12.7% | ↑ | Top 23% |
| Net margin | 10.5% | 9.3% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 14.1% | 10.0% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 7.4% | — | Top 43% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 6.0% | — | Top 33% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.70×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.6%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.7%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +3.6 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- -0.07×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 3.05%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 8.37%
- Shareholder yield
- 11.42%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -8.6%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -3.2%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 5 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +10.2%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -3.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $92.00
- Target vs current price
- +15.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 18
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 44%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | -2.2% | +7.7% | +2.9% | +5.7% | — |
| Apr 23, 2026 | -6.0% | -13.7% | -5.6% | -4.3% | -9.4% |
| Feb 26, 2026 | +23.4% | +3.2% | +7.4% | +9.9% | +3.7% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +25.4% | +0.7% | +6.8% | +7.2% | +7.2% |
| Jul 30, 2025 | +7.0% | -6.5% | -5.8% | +2.2% | +4.7% |
| Apr 24, 2025 | +28.7% | -0.2% | +1.8% | +10.3% | -3.1% |
| Feb 27, 2025 | -7.3% | -18.5% | -16.0% | -13.7% | -10.6% |
| Nov 7, 2024 | +45.0% | +2.2% | +2.1% | +2.5% | +4.3% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 29, 2026 | $1.76 | $1.80 | -2.2% | $330.2M |
| Apr 23, 2026 | $1.42 | $1.51 | -6.0% | $305.9M |
| Feb 26, 2026 | $1.74 | $1.41 | +23.4% | $323.2M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | $1.63 | $1.30 | +25.4% | $319.9M |
| Jul 30, 2025 | $1.52 | $1.42 | +7.0% | $321.5M |
| Apr 24, 2025 | $1.30 | $1.01 | +28.7% | $303.6M |
| Feb 27, 2025 | $1.27 | $1.37 | -7.3% | $311.5M |
| Nov 7, 2024 | $1.16 | $0.80 | +45.0% | $306.0M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 13.3× | 27.7× | 5th | Top 13% |
| P/E (forward) | 11.1× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 7.7× | — | — | Top 17% |
| EV / Sales | 1.40× | — | — | Bottom 42% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 10.01% | — | — | Top 24% |
| Earnings yield | 7.53% | — | — | Top 13% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 12.8× – 56.3× 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
- -7.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +24.7%
- Change in P/E multiple
- -5.4%
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)
- +0.2%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.1%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -2.2%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -1.1%
- RSI (14)
- 49.7
- Relative volume
- 0.59×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 38.9%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 81th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.63
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.29
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -9.0%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -41.3%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 4, 2020 | Feb 23, 2022 | -50.2% | 327 days | 506 days (Feb 29, 2024) |
| May 6, 2024 | Apr 23, 2026 | -41.3% | 492 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 19, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -15.2% | 9 days | 3 days (Nov 4, 2020) |
| Feb 29, 2024 | Apr 16, 2024 | -12.7% | 32 days | 7 days (Apr 25, 2024) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $1.81B
- P/E (TTM)
- 13.3
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $6.00
- Revenue (TTM)
- $1.29B
- Dividend yield
- 3.01%
- 52-week range
- $69.70 – $89.73
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $1.13B | $1.07B | $1.13B | $1.22B | $1.27B |
| Gross profit | $523.4M | $468.2M | $509.0M | $569.4M | $621.1M |
| Operating income | $73.9M | $70.8M | $95.3M | $155.6M | $196.1M |
| Net income | $55.1M | $46.7M | $69.8M | $112.7M | $126.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.28 | $1.94 | $2.91 | $4.67 | $5.42 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $306.0M | $311.5M | $303.6M | $321.5M | $319.9M | $323.2M | $305.9M | $337.3M |
| Net income | $27.7M | $25.3M | $29.7M | $32.3M | $26.6M | $37.9M | $32.8M | $37.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.15 | $1.05 | $1.24 | $1.37 | $1.15 | $1.66 | $1.48 | $1.71 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $180.5M | $126.1M | $117.1M | $169.3M | $198.2M |
| Capital expenditure | -$49.4M | -$43.2M | -$36.9M | -$40.6M | -$44.3M |
| Free cash flow | $131.1M | $82.9M | $80.2M | $128.8M | $153.9M |
| Dividends paid | -$59.0M | -$59.2M | -$58.8M | -$59.0M | -$57.5M |
| Net share buybacks | -$5.9M | -$40.1M | -$10.0M | -$11.5M | -$138.9M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $128.8M
- Total assets
- $2.07B
- Total liabilities
- $435.3M
- Total debt
- $106.7M
- Net debt
- -$17.0M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $1.63B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 29, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 4, 2026 | $0.60 | Sep 14, 2026 |
| May 22, 2026 | $0.60 | Jun 1, 2026 |
| Mar 9, 2026 | $0.60 | Mar 16, 2026 |
| Dec 1, 2025 | $0.60 | Dec 8, 2025 |
| Sep 5, 2025 | $0.60 | Sep 15, 2025 |
| May 23, 2025 | $0.60 | Jun 2, 2025 |
| Mar 10, 2025 | $0.60 | Mar 17, 2025 |
| Dec 2, 2024 | $0.60 | Dec 9, 2024 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 1,572,322
- Days to cover
- 6.03
- Change vs previous report
- -5.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Nov 19, 1997
- 3-for-2