Reviewing Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) & Lixiang Education (NASDAQ:LXEH)

Afya (NASDAQ:AFYA) and Lixiang Education (NASDAQ:LXEH) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, profitability, earnings, dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Profitability

This table compares Afya and Lixiang Education’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Afya	20.31%	18.77%	9.55%
Lixiang Education	N/A	N/A	N/A

Insider and Institutional Ownership

88.0% of Afya shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.5% of Lixiang Education shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Afya shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 75.0% of Lixiang Education shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Afya and Lixiang Education, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Afya	0	6	1	1	2.38
Lixiang Education	1	0	0	0	1.00

Afya currently has a consensus price target of $17.20, suggesting a potential upside of 23.83%. Given Afya’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Afya is more favorable than Lixiang Education.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Afya and Lixiang Education”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Afya	$662.01 million	1.97	$134.77 million	$1.46	9.51
Lixiang Education	$32.85 million	0.00	-$3.37 million	N/A	N/A

Afya has higher revenue and earnings than Lixiang Education.

Volatility and Risk

Afya has a beta of 0.36, meaning that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lixiang Education has a beta of -0.46, meaning that its share price is 146% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Afya beats Lixiang Education on 12 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Afya

Afya Limited, through its subsidiaries, operates as a medical education group in Brazil. The company operates through three segments: Undergrad, Continuing Education, and Digital Services. It offers educational products and services, including medical schools, medical residency preparatory courses, graduate courses, and other programs to lifelong medical learners enrolled across its distribution network, as well as to third-party medical schools. The company also provides digital health services, such as subscription-based mobile app and website portal that focuses on assisting health professionals and students with clinical decision-making through tools, such as medical calculators, charts, and updated content, as well as prescriptions, clinical scores, medical procedures and laboratory exams, and others. It offers health sciences courses, which comprise medicine, dentistry, nursing, radiology, psychology, pharmacy, physical education, physiotherapy, nutrition, and biomedicine; and degree programs and courses in other subjects and disciplines, including undergraduate and post graduate courses in business administration, accounting, law, civil engineering, industrial engineering, and pedagogy. In addition, the company provides medical postgraduate specialization programs; printed and digital content; and an online medical education platform and practical medical training services. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Nova Lima, Brazil.

About Lixiang Education

Lixiang Education Holding Co., Ltd. provides primary and middle school education services from grade 1 to grade 9 in the People's Republic of China. As of December 31, 2020, the company operated two campuses, including Baiyun Campus and Yijing Campus. It also engages in the operation of food procurement. The company was formerly known as Lianwai Education Group Limited and changed its name to Lixiang Education Holding Co., Ltd. in May 26, 2020. The company was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Lishui, the People's Republic of China.