Laureate Education, Inc. key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Laureate Education, Inc. had return on equity of 26.2%, an operating margin of 25.3%, debt equal to 10.9% of equity and a current ratio of 0.67. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Laureate Education, Inc.: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMSept 2026
Gross margin	12.4%	15.5%	16.7%	21.0%	21.7%	21.7%	25.0%	27.0%	26.6%	26.8%	28.3%	28.6%
Operating margin	7.9%	8.8%	7.1%	−2.3%	3.0%	−32.1%	−0.4%	21.7%	22.8%	23.9%	25.3%	25.8%
Net margin	−7.4%	11.3%	2.7%	32.3%	77.4%	−59.8%	17.7%	5.6%	7.2%	18.9%	16.5%	20.3%
Free-cash-flow margin	−4.0%	−1.5%	−2.5%	13.9%	15.2%	18.0%	−19.0%	10.1%	13.1%	10.3%	15.5%	15.0%
Return on equity	−89.0%	75.3%	8.1%	20.0%	38.5%	−24.1%	11.3%	7.3%	12.5%	31.1%	26.2%	33.1%
Return on assets	—	5.3%	1.3%	5.2%	14.1%	−10.7%	5.4%	3.3%	5.3%	14.9%	13.8%	16.6%
Asset turnover	—	0.47	0.46	0.16	0.18	0.18	0.30	0.59	0.72	0.79	0.84	0.82
Current ratio	—	0.77	0.94	1.02	0.88	1.79	1.46	0.59	0.50	0.62	0.67	0.71
Debt to equity	0.0%	609.5%	196.0%	135.0%	43.1%	46.1%	13.8%	30.2%	17.6%	10.6%	10.9%	17.6%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	0.8x	0.7x	0.7x	n/m	0.3x	n/m	n/m	16.4x	16.1x	20.7x	40.4x	33.7x
Effective tax rate	—	9.4%	—	—	—	—	—	75.4%	54.1%	28.7%	29.3%	21.6%
Capital spending as % of revenue	8.0%	7.3%	8.2%	20.8%	12.8%	7.3%	4.6%	4.2%	3.8%	4.6%	6.1%	6.8%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	—	−12.9%	−89.5%	42.9%	19.6%	—	−107.3%	180.3%	180.6%	54.3%	93.4%	74.1%
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	—	—	—	0.0%	143.4%	53.8%	—	224.9%	0.0%	63.5%	81.8%	139.9%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Laureate Education, Inc.: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026	2026 Q3Sept 2026
Gross margin	32.0%	−0.9%	39.5%	20.9%	35.8%	−6.0%	38.6%	27.1%
Operating margin	29.3%	−5.6%	36.9%	17.9%	33.2%	−10.1%	36.3%	24.6%
Net margin	22.1%	−8.3%	18.1%	8.6%	31.7%	−7.9%	22.3%	20.9%
Free-cash-flow margin	0.8%	22.5%	11.6%	30.7%	4.9%	19.7%	13.6%	25.5%
Current ratio	0.62	0.58	0.75	0.81	0.67	0.57	0.71	0.71
Debt to equity	6.2%	10.0%	7.4%	6.3%	6.2%	15.3%	14.4%	15.9%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

4 of 7 checks passed · September 30, 2026

What it owns · $2.5bn

Short-term assets $347mLonger-term assets $2.1bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $2.5bn

Short-term liabilities $489mLonger-term liabilities $828mShareholders' equity $1.2bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $347m of assets due within a year against $489m of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $347m short-term assets against $828m of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $190m of cash against $185m of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 16% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 9% to 16% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $418m of operating cash flow against $185m of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $495m against $15m of interest.

From Laureate Education, Inc.'s latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

45 /100

Weak moat

How hard Laureate Education's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 13 / 20

Net income has been a median 8.3% of total assets over 10 years.
Pricing power 2 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 26.7%, moving by 17.9 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
Durability 3 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 11.9%; its worst year was -28.3%.
Cash conversion 12 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 8 of 10 years, at a median 8.2% of revenue.
Discipline 20 / 20

The diluted share count fell 27.2% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 0.8% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (50 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

Compare with peers

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Figures from Laureate Education, Inc.'s SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 30, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Laureate Education, Inc.