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    Laureate Education (LAUR): Reassessing Valuation After Institutional Buying, Raised Outlook and Expanded Buybacks

    Simply Wall St·12/22/2025 17:20:40
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    Institutional Buying and Upgraded Outlook Draw Investor Focus

    Laureate Education (LAUR) is back on investors radar after Formula Growth snapped up 111,000 shares, just as the company raised its full year outlook and expanded its buyback program.

    See our latest analysis for Laureate Education.

    The upgraded outlook, stronger enrollment trends, and larger buyback program appear to be feeding real momentum, with a roughly 86 percent year to date share price return and a 3 year total shareholder return above 260 percent at the latest 33.83 dollars share price.

    If Laureate has you rethinking the education space, it might be worth exploring other healthcare stocks that could offer similarly durable demand and long term compounding potential.

    With shares already up sharply and trading just below analyst targets despite a sizeable intrinsic discount estimate, investors now face a key question: Is Laureate still mispriced, or is the market already baking in the next leg of growth?

    Most Popular Narrative: 8.2% Undervalued

    With Laureate closing at 33.83 dollars versus a narrative fair value of about 36.83 dollars, the prevailing view still points to moderate upside from here.

    Continued operational efficiency initiatives, including campus consolidations and disciplined expense management, are expected to drive further adjusted EBITDA margin improvements, strengthening earnings and cash flow conversion.

    Enhanced brand recognition and academic quality (e.g., top accreditations, sector leading rankings) reinforce Laureate's value proposition, helping to capture greater market share and support premium pricing opportunities, positively impacting long term earnings and margins.

    Read the complete narrative.

    Want to see how rising enrollment, richer margins, and a lower future earnings multiple all fit together into this valuation story? The underlying forecasts, and the trade off between growth and discount rate, may surprise you.

    Result: Fair Value of $36.83 (UNDERVALUED)

    Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what's behind the forecasts.

    However, sustained weakness in Mexico or Peru, along with intensifying online competition, could undermine enrollment, compress margins, and challenge the current undervaluation thesis.

    Find out about the key risks to this Laureate Education narrative.

    Build Your Own Laureate Education Narrative

    If you see the story differently, or simply prefer to dig into the numbers yourself, you can build a custom narrative in minutes: Do it your way

    A great starting point for your Laureate Education research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 1 important warning sign that could impact your investment decision.

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    This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.