Stride (NYSE:LRN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $72.43, but opened at $90.00. Stride shares last traded at $85.74, with a volume of 2,717,455 shares.

Stride News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Stride this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q2 results beat consensus — Stride reported roughly $2.50 EPS and ~$631M revenue, topping estimates and showing year-over-year revenue and margin improvement. MarketBeat Q2 results
• Positive Sentiment: Enrollment rebound and rollout issues largely resolved — Career learning (middle/high school) enrollment strength and a stabilized platform rollout are cited as drivers of renewed growth momentum. Seeking Alpha enrollment article
• Positive Sentiment: Guidance and profitability outlook supportive — Management maintained FY26 revenue guidance (~$2.48–$2.56B per company commentary) and raised adjusted operating income expectations, highlighting margin discipline in regulated markets. GlobeNewswire release
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst backing — Barrington Research reaffirmed an Outperform rating and set a $125 price target, signaling analyst confidence in upside vs. current levels. Benzinga note on Barrington
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed coverage and metrics discussions — Several deep-dive pieces and call transcripts parse unit economics, margin drivers and key metrics; useful for modeling but not immediately price-moving. MSN deep dive
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and inflation-of-enrollment concerns persist — Coverage highlighting legal probes and allegations around enrollment reporting remain overhangs that could pressure sentiment if they develop. Yahoo Finance on legal probes
• Negative Sentiment: Risk-focused commentary — Some outlets include LRN on lists of consumer/education stocks to watch for downside risk, which may amplify volatility for momentum-focused traders. Benzinga risk article

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $94.00 price objective on shares of Stride in a research report on Wednesday. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $125.00 target price on shares of Stride in a report on Wednesday. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $125.00 price target on shares of Stride in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Stride from $130.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Stride from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.75.

Stride Stock Up 18.8%

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.43 and a beta of 0.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 6.78 and a quick ratio of 6.69. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $66.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $110.64.

Stride (NYSE:LRN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.23 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $620.88 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $615.50 million. Stride had a net margin of 12.76% and a return on equity of 26.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Stride, Inc. will post 6.67 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Stride

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Stride by 37.5% during the 2nd quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 275 shares of the company’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Stride by 78.7% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 193 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Stride by 3.1% during the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the company’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Stride by 1.8% in the third quarter. Trail Ridge Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,454 shares of the company’s stock worth $812,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Stride by 0.4% in the third quarter. Campbell Newman Asset Management Inc. now owns 24,272 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,615,000 after buying an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. 98.24% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stride Company Profile

Stride, Inc (NYSE:LRN) is a technology-driven education company that designs and delivers online learning solutions for students and adult learners. Through long-term partnerships with state-authorized public school districts, Stride operates virtual academies that serve K-12 students across the United States. The company’s blended-learning model combines digital curriculum, live teaching support and data analytics to personalize instruction and monitor student progress.

In addition to its K-12 offerings, Stride provides a portfolio of career and workforce readiness programs under its Stride Career Prep division.