Head to Head Comparison: American Public Education (APEI) vs. Its Rivals

American Public Education (NASDAQ:APEI) is one of 165 public companies in the “Diversified Consumer Services” industry, but how does it weigh in compared to its rivals? We will compare American Public Education to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, valuation and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current recommendations for American Public Education and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
American Public Education	0	3	3	1	2.71
American Public Education Competitors	1440	3453	5298	197	2.41

American Public Education presently has a consensus price target of $57.62, indicating a potential upside of 36.66%. As a group, “Diversified Consumer Services” companies have a potential upside of 63.11%. Given American Public Education’s rivals higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe American Public Education has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares American Public Education and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
American Public Education	$673.94 million	$31.56 million	17.21
American Public Education Competitors	$3.65 billion	$221.82 million	15.42

American Public Education’s rivals have higher revenue and earnings than American Public Education. American Public Education is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Risk and Volatility

American Public Education has a beta of 1.49, meaning that its share price is 49% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, American Public Education’s rivals have a beta of 0.53, meaning that their average share price is 47% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Profitability

This table compares American Public Education and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
American Public Education	6.83%	14.99%	8.58%
American Public Education Competitors	-3.44%	-30.08%	2.37%

Insider & Institutional Ownership

79.6% of American Public Education shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 49.0% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are owned by institutional investors. 10.6% of American Public Education shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 19.5% of shares of all “Diversified Consumer Services” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

American Public Education beats its rivals on 8 of the 13 factors compared.

American Public Education Company Profile

American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) is a provider of higher education through a portfolio of institutions that includes American Public University System, Rasmussen University and Hondros College of Nursing. Its offerings span online and campus-based programs in areas such as nursing and health care, business, technology, education and public service. American Public University System includes American Military University and American Public University. Founded in 1991 as American Military University, it delivers online programs to military-affiliated students, public-service professionals and other learners in the United States and abroad.