Higher education company Laureate Education (NASDAQ: LAUR) reported revenue ahead of Wall Streets expectations in Q3 CY2025, with sales up 8.6% year on year to $400.2 million. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $1.68 billion at the midpoint came in 2.7% above analysts’ estimates. Its GAAP profit of $0.23 per share was 18% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Laureate Education (LAUR) Q3 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $400.2 million vs analyst estimates of $385.9 million (8.6% year-on-year growth, 3.7% beat)
- EPS (GAAP): $0.23 vs analyst expectations of $0.28 (18% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $94.8 million vs analyst estimates of $86.86 million (23.7% margin, 9.1% beat)
- The company lifted its revenue guidance for the full year to $1.68 billion at the midpoint from $1.62 billion, a 3.8% increase
- EBITDA guidance for the full year is $510 million at the midpoint, above analyst estimates of $494.2 million
- Operating Margin: 17.9%, down from 19.5% in the same quarter last year
- Free Cash Flow Margin: 30.7%, similar to the same quarter last year
- Enrolled Students: 511,400, up 28,100 year on year
- Market Capitalization: $4.26 billion
Eilif Serck-Hanssen, President and Chief Executive Officer, said “We are pleased to report another strong quarter, driven by favorable operating performance as well as a weaker U.S. dollar. We were especially encouraged by our continued ability to scale our fully online offerings in Peru through our industry-leading digital portfolio and to deliver continued growth in Mexico despite a softer macroeconomic environment. The results from the intake cycles, combined with favorable foreign currency trends, give us the confidence to increase our full-year outlook for 2025.”
Company Overview
Founded in 1998 by Douglas L. Becker and based in Miami, Laureate Education (NASDAQ: LAUR) is a global network of higher education institutions.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance is one signal of its overall quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Regrettably, Laureate Education’s sales grew at a sluggish 7.7% compounded annual growth rate over the last five years. This fell short of our benchmark for the consumer discretionary sector and is a tough starting point for our analysis.
We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within consumer discretionary, a stretched historical view may miss a company riding a successful new product or trend. Laureate Education’s recent performance shows its demand has slowed as its annualized revenue growth of 5.6% over the last two years was below its five-year trend. 
Laureate Education also discloses its number of enrolled students, which reached 511,400 in the latest quarter. Over the last two years, Laureate Education’s enrolled students averaged 5.3% year-on-year growth. Because this number aligns with its revenue growth during the same period, we can see the company’s monetization was fairly consistent. 
This quarter, Laureate Education reported year-on-year revenue growth of 8.6%, and its $400.2 million of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 3.7%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 10.2% over the next 12 months. While this projection indicates its newer products and services will fuel better top-line performance, it is still below the sector average.
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Operating Margin
Laureate Education’s operating margin might fluctuated slightly over the last 12 months but has generally stayed the same, averaging 23.5% over the last two years. This profitability was elite for a consumer discretionary business thanks to its efficient cost structure and economies of scale.
In Q3, Laureate Education generated an operating margin profit margin of 17.9%, down 1.7 percentage points year on year. This reduction is quite minuscule and indicates the company’s overall cost structure has been relatively stable.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Laureate Education’s full-year EPS flipped from negative to positive over the last five years. This is a good sign and shows it’s at an inflection point.
In Q3, Laureate Education reported EPS of $0.23, down from $0.56 in the same quarter last year. This print missed analysts’ estimates, but we care more about long-term EPS growth than short-term movements. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Laureate Education’s full-year EPS of $1.37 to grow 43.6%.
Key Takeaways from Laureate Education’s Q3 Results
It was great to see Laureate Education’s full-year revenue guidance top analysts’ expectations. We were also happy its revenue outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its EPS missed. Overall, we think this was a decent quarter with some key metrics above expectations. The stock traded up 1.4% to $29.27 immediately following the results.
Indeed, Laureate Education had a rock-solid quarterly earnings result, but is this stock a good investment here? When making that decision, it’s important to consider its valuation, business qualities, as well as what has happened in the latest quarter. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here, it’s free for active Edge members.
