Investors interested in stocks from the Schools sector have probably already heard of Strategic Education (STRA) and Grand Canyon Education (LOPE). But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

We have found that the best way to discover great value opportunities is to pair a strong Zacks Rank with a great grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, Strategic Education has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Grand Canyon Education has a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that STRA likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than LOPE has recently. But this is just one piece of the puzzle for value investors.

Value investors analyze a variety of traditional, tried-and-true metrics to help find companies that they believe are undervalued at their current share price levels.

The Style Score Value grade factors in a variety of key fundamental metrics, including the popular P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a number of other key stats that are commonly used by value investors.

STRA currently has a forward P/E ratio of 14.19, while LOPE has a forward P/E of 20.81. We also note that STRA has a PEG ratio of 0.95. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. LOPE currently has a PEG ratio of 1.39.

Another notable valuation metric for STRA is its P/B ratio of 1.20. 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 6.69.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to STRA's Value grade of B and LOPE's Value grade of C.

STRA stands above LOPE thanks to its solid earnings outlook, and based on these valuation figures, we also feel that STRA is the superior value option right now.

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Strategic Education Inc. (STRA) : Free Stock Analysis Report

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) : Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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