Forensic Analysis · Professional & Commercial Services · as of Aug 10, 2026

Strategic Education, Inc. (STRA)

A forensic read on Strategic Education, Inc. built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.

B · Sound & dependable

Forensic grade

Safe

Financial health

6.1

Distress distance

Clean

Earnings quality

Forensic signals

13.6

P / E (ttm)

7.7%

ROE

$1.8B

Market cap

2.91%

Dividend yield

4.0%

Revenue growth

This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (red flags, auditor quality, say on pay, board independence). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.

Strategic Education, Inc. earns a B (Sound & dependable) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 6.1, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by shareholder returns.

What the filings flag

128% of FCF

FY2025

Shareholder returns. Returned $196M to shareholders (buybacks + dividends) in FY2025 — 128% of free cash flow. More than free cash flow generated — and beyond operating cash too, so the extra is coming from debt or cash reserves, which isn't sustainable indefinitely. Counting the $23M of stock-based comp paid out in shares on top of that, the combined claim on free cash flow is 143%.

7.4%

FY2025

Return on invested capital. Return on invested capital is 7.4% in the latest fiscal year and rising from 3% — slightly below its ~10% cost of capital — reinvestment is roughly a wash.

-75%

FY2012→FY2017

Dividend — cut. The payout was CUT ~75% in FY2017 (from FY2012) and hasn't been restored since. It still returns some cash, but it is NOT the dependable, rising dividend an unbroken streak implies.

Key fundamentals

Latest Revenue$1.27B

Revenue Growth YoY+4.0%

Revenue CAGR (3yr)+6.0%

Net Margin10.0%

Free Cash Flow$153.9M

Return on Equity7.7%

Debt / Equity0.00x

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Data from SEC EDGAR public filings · metrics as of Aug 10, 2026. Forensic signals flag probability, not certainty.