Critical Review: Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) vs. NaaS Technology (NASDAQ:NAAS)

Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR – Get Rating) and NaaS Technology (NASDAQ:NAAS – Get Rating) are both small-cap consumer discretionary companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, profitability, valuation, analyst recommendations, dividends and institutional ownership.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

71.3% of Laureate Education shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 1.1% of NaaS Technology shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Laureate Education shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 18.0% of NaaS Technology shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Laureate Education and NaaS Technology’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laureate Education	5.59%	7.06%	3.12%
NaaS Technology	N/A	N/A	N/A

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of current recommendations for Laureate Education and NaaS Technology, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laureate Education	0	0	1	0	3.00
NaaS Technology	0	0	0	0	N/A

Laureate Education presently has a consensus target price of $15.00, suggesting a potential upside of 29.98%. Given Laureate Education’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Laureate Education is more favorable than NaaS Technology.

Risk & Volatility

Laureate Education has a beta of 0.76, meaning that its stock price is 24% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NaaS Technology has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Laureate Education and NaaS Technology’s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Laureate Education	$1.24 billion	1.46	$69.57 million	$0.44	26.23
NaaS Technology	$146.89 million	0.37	-$38.99 million	N/A	N/A

Laureate Education has higher revenue and earnings than NaaS Technology.

Summary

Laureate Education beats NaaS Technology on 9 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Laureate Education

(Get Rating)

Laureate Education, Inc. engages in the provision of higher educational services to undergraduate and graduate degree programs. It operates through the Mexico segment and Peru segment. The Mexico and Peru segments include the operation and management of universities. The company was founded by Douglas L. Becker in 1989 and is headquartered in Miami, FL.

About NaaS Technology

(Get Rating)

NaaS Technology, Inc. operates as an electric vehicle charging service provider. The firm maintains the largest EV charging network in China in terms of the charging volume transacted through its charging network for third-party charging station operators, and the number of public DCFCs (direct current fast charger with 30kW power output or more) connected to its network. The company was founded by Zhen Dai and Yang Wang and is headquartered in Beijing, China.