Analyzing Vasta Platform (NASDAQ:VSTA) and China Liberal Education (NASDAQ:CLEU)

Vasta Platform (NASDAQ:VSTA) and China Liberal Education (NASDAQ:CLEU) are both small-cap business services companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of current ratings and recommmendations for Vasta Platform and China Liberal Education, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Vasta Platform	2	0	0	0	1.00
China Liberal Education	0	0	0	0	0.00

Vasta Platform presently has a consensus target price of $3.00, indicating a potential upside of 30.43%. Given Vasta Platform’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Vasta Platform is more favorable than China Liberal Education.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Vasta Platform and China Liberal Education”s gross revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Vasta Platform	$1.53 billion	0.12	-$16.78 million	($0.07)	-32.86
China Liberal Education	$2.41 million	0.23	-$4.96 million	N/A	N/A

China Liberal Education has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Vasta Platform.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

15.8% of Vasta Platform shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 22.2% of China Liberal Education shares are owned by institutional investors. 2.0% of Vasta Platform shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.7% of China Liberal Education shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Vasta Platform and China Liberal Education’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Vasta Platform	-3.32%	1.61%	0.98%
China Liberal Education	N/A	N/A	N/A

Volatility & Risk

Vasta Platform has a beta of 0.11, suggesting that its stock price is 89% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, China Liberal Education has a beta of 2.03, suggesting that its stock price is 103% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

China Liberal Education beats Vasta Platform on 6 of the 11 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Vasta Platform

Vasta Platform Limited provides educational printed and digital solutions to private schools operating in the K-12 education sector in Brazil. The company offers digital and printed textbooks, teacher handbooks, exercise books, multidisciplinary subject books, and student evaluations; and PAR platform that allows schools to select their preferred books and materials and follow their own specific teaching methods. It also provides traditional learning systems under the Anglo, Pitágoras, Rede Cristã de Educação, Maxi Ético, Fibonacci, Mackenzie, and Amplia brands; ongoing training for educators; and services to partner schools, including consulting services for school management and the organization of events, and a proprietary and differentiated evaluation system for partner schools and their students. In addition, the company offers Plurall that provides a digital learning experience and allows for tailor-made adjustments for each school; Plurall Maestro that develops digital solutions to help educators in planning and conducting classes; PROFS, a teacher training program; O Líder em Mim, a program with content, methodology, teaching material, and training to develop leadership; English Stars, an English educational platform; EduAll, a bilingual program to enhance its current solutions; Plurall Olímpico, a content for scientific competitions; MindMakers to develop leadership, collaboration, and persistence through multidisciplinary problem-solving exercises; Matific that provides interactive learning environments and adaptable worksheets; Plurall Store; Plurall Adapta for adaptive learning sessions; Plurall MeuProf to connect students with professors for private tutoring; Prepara to prepare students for external assessments; Leader in Me to develop socio-emotional competencies of K12 students; Education Systems, a structured teaching system for K12 students and teachers; and Prepara ENEM. Vasta Platform Limited was founded in 1966 and is based in São Paulo, Brazil.

About China Liberal Education

China Liberal Education Holdings Limited provides educational services and products under the China Liberal brand name in the People's Republic of China. The company offers Sino-foreign jointly managed academic programs, including undergraduate and postgraduate education; and diploma and non-degree higher education, and senior secondary education programs in the areas of languages, liberal arts, and businesses. It also provides overseas study consulting and technological consulting services for Chinese universities to enhance their campus information and data management system, as well as to optimize their teaching, operating, and management environment. The company's consulting services include campus intranet solution buildout, school management software customization, smart devices, installation and testing, and school management data collection and analysis. In addition, it sells textbooks and other course materials, and AI-space products to students enrolled under the Sino-foreign Jointly Managed Academic Programs, as well as offers job readiness training to graduating students. China Liberal Education Holdings Limited was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Beijing, the People's Republic of China.