Head to Head Survey: Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) & Regis (NASDAQ:RGS)

Regis (NASDAQ:RGS) and Strategic Education (NASDAQ:STRA) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership, risk, profitability, earnings and valuation.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Regis and Strategic Education”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Regis	$224.49 million	0.32	$6.94 million	$2.42	11.78
Strategic Education	$1.27 billion	1.43	$126.61 million	$6.00	13.60

Strategic Education has higher revenue and earnings than Regis. Regis is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Strategic Education, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Volatility & Risk

Regis has a beta of 1.42, meaning that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Strategic Education has a beta of 0.49, meaning that its share price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and price targets for Regis and Strategic Education, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Regis	0	1	1	0	2.50
Strategic Education	0	3	2	0	2.40

Regis currently has a consensus price target of $42.00, indicating a potential upside of 47.37%. Strategic Education has a consensus price target of $95.33, indicating a potential upside of 16.84%. Given Regis’ stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe Regis is more favorable than Strategic Education.

Profitability

This table compares Regis and Strategic Education’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Regis	3.09%	4.10%	1.36%
Strategic Education	10.46%	8.98%	7.11%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

31.5% of Regis shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 93.3% of Strategic Education shares are held by institutional investors. 4.8% of Regis shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 3.6% of Strategic Education shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Summary

Strategic Education beats Regis on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Regis

Regis Corporation owns, operates, and franchises hairstyling and hair care salons in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Puerto Rico. The company operates in two segments, Franchise Salons and Company-owned Salons. Its salons provide haircutting and styling, including shampooing and conditioning; hair coloring; and other services, as well as sells various hair care and other beauty products. The company also offers OpenSalon Pro, a back-office salon management system; and Opensalon mobile application. Regis Corporation operates its salons primarily under the SmartStyle, Supercuts, Cost Cutters, Roosters, and First Choice Haircutters names. As of June 30, 2021, the company operated 5,917 salons, such as 5,563 franchised salons, 276 company-owned salons, and 78 non-controlling ownership salons. It also operates accredited cosmetology schools. The company was founded in 1922 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About Strategic Education

Strategic Education, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides education services through campus-based and online post-secondary education, and programs to develop job-ready skills. The company operates through U.S. Higher Education, Australia/New Zealand, and Education Technology Services segments. It operates Strayer University that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs in business, criminal justice, education, health services, information technology, and public administration at physical campuses located in the eastern United States, as well as through online; non-degree web and mobile application development courses through Hackbright Academy and Devmountain; and MBA online through its Jack Welch Management Institute. In addition, the company operates Capella University that provides post-secondary education; Torrens University, which offers undergraduate, graduate, higher degree by research, and specialized degree courses primarily in business, design and creative technology, health, hospitality, and education fields through online and on physical campuses located in Australia; Think Education, a vocational training organization; and Media Design School, which provides industry-endorsed courses in 3D animation and visual effects, game art and programming, graphic and motion design, digital media artificial intelligence, and creative advertising in New Zealand. It also offers Workforce Edge, a platform to employers that provides education benefits administration solutions; and Sophia Learning, which enables lower cost education benefits programs. Strategic Education, Inc. was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia.