/
Grand Canyon Education, Inc., a Delaware corporation ( GCE or the Company ) is a publicly traded education services company dedicated to serving colleges and universities. GCE has developed significant technological solutions, infrastructure and operational processes to provide services to these institutions on a large scale.
$140.44
$2.72 (-1.90%)
EOD Jul 17, 2026
Margins and capital returns are both well above average: 24.04% operating margin, ROIC at 23.16%. Consistent with durable pricing power, though that alone doesn't make it a buy.
Revenue grew 7.1%, steady but not accelerating. Margins contracted 2.6pp, which offsets some of the top-line progress.
Even for strong businesses, today's 18x P/E means the stock needs to keep delivering. There's no margin of safety if growth disappoints.
17.6x earnings, 14.5x FCF. Valuation is in a reasonable range. The main question is whether the business can re-accelerate or if current trajectory is already priced in.
Based on TTM earnings · Diluted shares
Profitability & Returns
Revenue (TTM)
$1.13B
▲ +7.1% YoY
Net Income (TTM)
$220M
▼ -4.4% YoY
Op. Margin
24.29%
▼ -2.6pp YoY
ROIC
24.21%
▼ -1.4pp YoY
Cash Flow & Balance Sheet
FCF (TTM)
$260M
▼ -5.6% YoY
Op. Cash Flow (TTM)
$294M
▼ -5.7% YoY
Net Debt
-$148M
Net Cash Position
Cash & Equiv.
$252M
5Y CAGR: +5.6%
5Y CAGR: -3.1%
Continue Research
At a P/E of 17.6 and a price-to-free-cash-flow of 14.5, Grand Canyon Education (LOPE) trades around a two-stage DCF intrinsic value of about $173.21 per share, so at $140.44 the stock looks around fair value (23.3% below estimated intrinsic value). A high multiple is not the same as overvalued: fast-growing, high-quality businesses can deserve a premium. See the general approach in how to tell if a stock is overvalued.
On quality, Grand Canyon Education scores 77/100 on Intrinsiqq's quality scorecard (a solid business on these measures), weighing growth, margins, returns on capital, share count, and balance-sheet strength. All figures are computed from SEC filings; read the full methodology. This is analysis, not investment advice.
Intrinsiqq's two-stage DCF estimates an intrinsic value of about $173.21 per share for LOPE, projecting its recent free cash flow forward with a growth rate that fades toward a long-run rate and discounting it back to today. Applying a 25% margin of safety gives a more conservative fair-value entry around $129.91. At today's $140.44, that puts the stock about 23.3% below estimated intrinsic value. The result is sensitive to the growth and discount-rate inputs, so it is best to run conservative, base and optimistic cases. You can adjust all of them yourself with the sliders on the DCF tab.
Grand Canyon Education scores 77 out of 100 on Intrinsiqq's quality score, a weighted blend of 8 metrics each scored 0 to 100, which makes it a solid business on these measures. Recent fundamentals include a 24.3% operating margin and a 24.2% return on invested capital. The score weighs revenue and free-cash-flow growth, operating margins, return on invested capital, share-count change, and balance-sheet strength, all computed from SEC filings, not opinion. Because valuation only means something relative to quality, the full metric-by-metric breakdown is on the quality scorecard.
That depends on valuation and quality together, not either alone. LOPE currently trades around its estimated intrinsic value and scores 77/100 on quality (solid). A cheap price is only a bargain if the business is durable, and a premium can be justified by genuine quality, so the two questions, "is it cheap?" and "is it good?", only make sense side by side. Read the valuation against the quality scorecard, run the DCF on your own assumptions, and decide for yourself. This is analysis from SEC filings, not investment advice.