At a glance
Grand Canyon Education Inc is worth $4.01B, about 20 times its fiscal 2025 earnings. Revenue grew 7.1% to $1.11B in fiscal 2025, with 19.5% kept as profit; over 5 years it has grown 5.6% a year. It pays no dividend; it spent $1.98B buying back its shares over FY2021–FY2025. The stock returned −28.2% over the past year with dividends reinvested and +11.9% a year over five years, against +11.5% and +11.7% for the S&P 500. At its worst it fell 31.7% in the 2020 crash (S&P 500: 33.7%) and 21.8% in the 2022 bear market (S&P 500: 24.5%), and was back at its earlier high 1 month and within a month after the lows.
The business in plain English
Grand Canyon Education (GCE) is not a university. It sells technology and support services to colleges and universities. Its most significant partner is Grand Canyon University (GCU), a separate Arizona non-profit that teaches online, at its Phoenix campus and at eleven off-campus sites. As of December 31, 2025, GCE supported more than 136,200 students, and more than 131,800 of them were in GCU programs.
GCE works under master services agreements, which are contracts that spell out what it does for each school. Its services can include its own online classroom software, called Halo, plus course design, faculty recruiting, marketing, admissions and student counseling. It also processes Title IV aid, the federal grants and loans many students use for tuition. For healthcare programs such as accelerated nursing degrees, it builds and equips classroom and simulation labs near healthcare providers. The company says it has invested more than $350 million in technology over 17 years.
GCE served 20 university partners as of December 31, 2025. Still, it says it earns a large percentage of its revenue from GCU, so a drop in GCU's enrollment could cut its sales significantly. In fiscal 2025, revenue was about $1.11 billion and net income was about $216 million. The operating margin was 24%. That means about 24 cents of each revenue dollar was left after operating costs.
Price history
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LOPE -28.2% over the year to Oct 28, 2026, total return with dividends reinvested.
Latest results
- In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $264.0M, up 6.7% from a year earlier, and net income was $45.9M (+10.4%).
- For fiscal 2025, revenue was $1.11B (+7.1% year over year; +5.6% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a 19.5% net margin.
Financial health check
| Revenue growth a year (FY2020–FY2025) | +5.6% good |
|---|---|
| Operating margin | 24% good |
| Free cash flow margin | 21.6% good |
| Return on equity (FY2025) | 28.9% good |
| Return on assets (FY2025) | 21.8% good |
| Cash and investments | $274.5M (no borrowings found in the filings) good |
| Fiscal year | Revenue | Net income | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2020 | $844.1M | $257.2M | $279.4M |
| FY2021 | $896.6M | $260.3M | $284.2M |
| FY2022 | $911.3M | $184.7M | $185.6M |
| FY2023 | $960.9M | $205.0M | $199.1M |
| FY2024 | $1.03B | $226.2M | $252.7M |
| FY2025 | $1.11B | $216.2M | $238.6M |
Valuation snapshot
| Market value | $4.01B |
|---|---|
| P/E ratio | 20 |
| Dividend yield | None |
Rank among 1514 US companies
Market value at each year end
Grand Canyon Education’s market value went from $2.77B at the end of 2016 to $4.01B on Oct 28, 2026, up 45%; since the end of 2025 it is down 14%.
Show as a table
| Year end | Market value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 28, 2026 | $4.01B | -13.7% |
| 2025 | $4.65B | -2.6% |
| 2024 | $4.77B | +20.5% |
| 2023 | $3.96B | +20.4% |
| 2022 | $3.29B | -4.2% |
| 2021 | $3.43B | -21.3% |
| 2020 | $4.36B | -5.6% |
| 2019 | $4.62B | -0.2% |
| 2018 | $4.63B | +7.4% |
| 2017 | $4.31B | +55.7% |
| 2016 | $2.77B |
Price behavior
| YTD | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOPE price data to Oct 28, 2026 | -7.4% | -28.2% | +9.5% | +11.9% | +13.6% |
Show as a table
| Year | Price data |
|---|---|
| 2026 (to date) | -7.4% |
| 2025 | +1.5% |
| 2024 | +24.1% |
| 2023 | +25.0% |
| 2022 | +23.3% |
| 2021 | -8.0% |
| 2020 | -2.8% |
| 2019 | -0.4% |
| 2018 | +7.4% |
| 2017 | +53.2% |
| 2016 | +45.7% |
| 2015 | -14.0% |
| 2014 | +7.0% |
| 2013 | +85.8% |
| 2012 | +47.1% |
| 2011 | -18.5% |
| 2010 | +3.0% |
| 2009 | +1.2% |
| 2008 financial crisis stocks fell Oct 9, 2007 – Mar 9, 2009 | Before this security existed |
|---|---|
| 2020 COVID crash stocks fell Feb 19, 2020 – Mar 23, 2020 | Lost 29.1% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 31.7%, back to its old high 1.4 months after the low |
| 2022 bear market stocks fell Jan 3, 2022 – Oct 12, 2022 | Lost 5.8% over that stretch · deepest drop along the way 21.8%, back to its old high 0.9 months after the low |
Insider activity
Form 4 filings from 2025-10-29 to 2026-10-29 (20 read): 0 open-market purchases and 1 sales ($100K).
| Date | Insider | Type | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 11, 2025 | Chevy Humphrey Director | sell | $100K |
Who owns it
Large shareholders (13G filings)
| BlackRock, Inc. | 9.1% | Mar 31, 2025 |
| FMR LLC | 7.7% | Jun 30, 2026 |
| Vanguard Capital Management | 5.29% | Mar 31, 2026 |
| RIVERBRIDGE PARTNERS LLC | 4.9% | Dec 31, 2024 |
ETFs with the most weight in LOPE
| SOVF Sovereign's Capital Flourish Fund | 2.97% |
| PSL Invesco Dorsey Wright Consumer Staples Momentum ETF | 2.03% |
| COWG Pacer US Large Cap Cash Cows Growth Leaders ETF | 1.48% |
| GRPM Invesco S&P MidCap 400 GARP ETF | 1.42% |
| JMID Janus Henderson Mid Cap Growth Alpha ETF | 1.41% |
| FSCS First Trust SMID Capital Strength ETF | 1.12% |
| TAX Cambria Tax Aware ETF | 1.08% |
| HAPS Harbor Human Capital Factor US Small Cap ETF | 1.06% |
What could go wrong
- Heavy reliance on Grand Canyon University. GCE earns a large percentage of its revenue as a service provider to GCU, its most significant partner. If GCU's enrollment declines, GCE's revenue and profits could fall significantly.
- Possible conflicts with GCU's leadership. GCU's board of trustees must put the university's interests first, and those could diverge from GCE's. GCE's chief executive is also GCU's president, which the company says may affect the CEO's ability to run GCE.
- Partners could lose federal student aid. Partner students use Title IV federal grants and loans for tuition. A school could lose access if the Education Department doesn't recertify it, it loses accreditation, or its student loan default rates are too high.
- Strict rules on recruiter pay. Federal rules bar paying admissions staff based on how many students they enroll. If GCE's pay practices or its tuition-sharing deals were found to break these rules, the company says its business would be impaired.
- Enrollment depends on recruiting and the economy. Growth depends on recruiting new students for partner schools. A weak economy, wariness about student debt, or slower demand for online degrees could shrink enrollment and GCE's revenue.
- Competition and fast-changing technology, including AI. Rival service companies could win partners or force price cuts. GCE must also keep pace with changing technology, and the company warns that its artificial intelligence efforts may not succeed.
Recent events
- Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
- Executive or board change
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Shareholder vote results
- Investor presentation or announcement
- Quarterly results released
- Quarterly results released
- Executive or board change
- Investor presentation or announcement; Other company announcement
For income and retirement investors
Grand Canyon Education pays no dividend, so it provides no regular income. An investor who needs cash from this holding would have to sell shares. The company instead returns cash through buybacks, which means buying its own stock on the market. It spent about $1.98 billion on buybacks from fiscal 2021 through 2025, and the share count fell 42.3% between August 2, 2021, and July 28, 2026. With fewer shares, each one claims a larger slice of profits, but buybacks can slow or stop at any time.
The stock has fallen sharply at times. In the 2020 COVID crash it dropped 31.7% from peak to low, then regained its old high about 1.4 months after the low. In the 2022 bear market, a broad market slide, it fell 21.8% but regained its high less than a month after the low. In the year to October 28, 2026, it lost 28.2%. A single stock like Grand Canyon Education carries more risk than a diversified fund.
Questions investors ask
How does Grand Canyon Education make money?
Grand Canyon Education gets paid as a service provider to universities. It works under master services agreements, which are contracts that set out its services. These can include online course technology, course design, faculty recruiting, marketing, admissions, financial aid processing and student counseling. It also builds and equips classroom and simulation labs for partners' healthcare programs, such as accelerated nursing degrees. It served 20 university partners as of December 31, 2025. In fiscal 2025, revenue was about $1.11 billion and net income was about $216 million.
Is Grand Canyon Education the same as Grand Canyon University?
No. Grand Canyon Education (GCE) is a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq. Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a separate Arizona non-profit with online programs, a Phoenix campus and eleven off-campus sites. GCU is GCE's most significant partner. As of December 31, 2025, more than 131,800 of the over 136,200 students GCE supported were in GCU programs. GCE says it earns a large percentage of its revenue from GCU, and its chief executive is also GCU's president.
Does Grand Canyon Education pay a dividend?
No. Grand Canyon Education paid no dividends from fiscal 2021 through 2025. Instead, it spent about $1.98 billion buying back its own shares over those five years. The share count fell 42.3%, from about 45.2 million on August 2, 2021, to about 26.1 million on July 28, 2026. Buybacks can raise earnings per share, but they do not give shareholders regular cash the way a dividend does.
How has LOPE stock performed over the long term?
It has risen over the long run, with big swings along the way. As of October 28, 2026, the share price had risen an average of 13.6% a year over 10 years, or 258% in total, and 11.9% a year over five years. Shorter-term results were weaker: it was down 28.2% over one year and 7.4% for 2026 through that date. Its deepest fall from a peak over about 18 years of price history was 54.8%. These figures reflect share price changes only.
Does Grand Canyon Education have any debt?
Its financial statements as of June 30, 2026, showed no borrowings. On that date it held about $274.5 million in cash and investments, with total assets of about $919.2 million and shareholders' equity of about $669.5 million. However, an October 1, 2026, filing reported a major new agreement and a new debt or financial obligation, so its debt position may have changed after June 30.