Investors interested in stocks from the Schools sector have probably already heard of Adtalem Global Education (ATGE) and Grand Canyon Education (LOPE). But which of these two stocks is more attractive to value investors? We'll need to take a closer look to find out.

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 puts an emphasis on earnings estimates and estimate revisions, while our Style Scores work to identify stocks with specific traits.

Adtalem Global Education and Grand Canyon Education are sporting Zacks Ranks of #2 (Buy) and #3 (Hold), respectively, right now. This means that ATGE's earnings estimate revision activity has been more impressive, so investors should feel comfortable with its improving analyst outlook. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

ATGE currently has a forward P/E ratio of 17.38, while LOPE has a forward P/E of 20.67. We also note that ATGE has a PEG ratio of 1.16. This popular figure is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also considers a company's expected EPS growth rate. LOPE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.38.

Another notable valuation metric for ATGE is its P/B ratio of 2.72. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, LOPE has a P/B of 7.02.

These metrics, and several others, help ATGE earn a Value grade of B, while LOPE has been given a Value grade of C.

ATGE sticks out from LOPE in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that ATGE is the better option right now.

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Adtalem Global Education Inc. (ATGE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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