Critical Review: KinderCare Learning Companies (KLC) vs. The Competition

KinderCare Learning Companies (NYSE:KLC) is one of 36 publicly-traded companies in the “SCHOOLS” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare KinderCare Learning Companies to similar companies based on the strength of its profitability, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Risk and Volatility

KinderCare Learning Companies has a beta of 2.33, indicating that its stock price is 133% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, KinderCare Learning Companies’ competitors have a beta of 0.19, indicating that their average stock price is 81% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

46.8% of shares of all “SCHOOLS” companies are held by institutional investors. 5.3% of KinderCare Learning Companies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 29.0% of shares of all “SCHOOLS” companies are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and recommmendations for KinderCare Learning Companies and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
KinderCare Learning Companies	3	5	1	0	1.78
KinderCare Learning Companies Competitors	383	771	1412	79	2.45

KinderCare Learning Companies currently has a consensus target price of $4.63, suggesting a potential upside of 40.05%. As a group, “SCHOOLS” companies have a potential upside of 27.15%. Given KinderCare Learning Companies’ higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe KinderCare Learning Companies is more favorable than its competitors.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares KinderCare Learning Companies and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
KinderCare Learning Companies	$2.73 billion	-$112.88 million	-3.48
KinderCare Learning Companies Competitors	$1.04 billion	$62.93 million	14.59

KinderCare Learning Companies has higher revenue, but lower earnings than its competitors. KinderCare Learning Companies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Profitability

This table compares KinderCare Learning Companies and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
KinderCare Learning Companies	-4.13%	9.85%	2.28%
KinderCare Learning Companies Competitors	6.94%	4.90%	5.12%

Summary

KinderCare Learning Companies competitors beat KinderCare Learning Companies on 9 of the 13 factors compared.

KinderCare Learning Companies Company Profile

KinderCare Learning Companies Inc. is a provider of high-quality early childhood education by center capacity. KinderCare Learning Companies Inc. is based in PORTLAND, Ore.