LINC
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation
LINC's fundamentals are strong, but it looks expensive: trading at 30x earnings, above its usual 17x. Analysts expect strong earnings growth.
LINC Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Stable | |
| Strong |
LINC's revenue, profitability and balance sheet are currently healthy, and its cash flow is stable.
LINC PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 6.5x | $4.90 | -79% |
| Fair | 17x | $13.06 | -43% |
| Forward | 22x | $22.98 | — |
| Current | 30x | $22.98 | — |
| Expensive | 55x | $41.63 | +81% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
LINC's PE is in its fair range at 30x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 22x next year's earnings.
LINC Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Limited | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for LINC, with profitability improving.
LINC Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.03 | +35% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.76 | +69% |
| Q2 2026 | $0.73 | +59% |
| Q1 2026 | $0.72 | +85% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.64 | +100% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.45 | +45% |
| Q2 2025 | $0.46 | +84% |
| Q1 2025 | $0.39 | -54% |
| Q4 2024 | $0.32 | -62% |
LINC's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $0.76 over the past year, against $1.77 in late 2021.
LINC Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $159.2M | +13% |
| Q2 2026 | $142.6M | +22% |
| Q1 2026 | $144M | +23% |
| Q4 2025 | $142.9M | +20% |
| Q3 2025 | $141.4M | +24% |
| Q2 2025 | $116.5M | +13% |
| Q1 2025 | $117.5M | +14% |
| Q4 2024 | $119.4M | +16% |
LINC's revenue has grown year over year every quarter since late 2020: $159M last quarter, up 13% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 4.8% | +0.4 points |
| Q2 2026 | 2.3% | -0.2 points |
| Q1 2026 | 4.5% | +1.6 points |
| Q4 2025 | 12% | +3.3 points |
| Q3 2025 | 4.5% | -0.6 points |
| Q2 2025 | 2.5% | +3.6 points |
| Q1 2025 | 2.9% | +3.3 points |
| Q4 2024 | 9.2% | +0.4 points |
LINC's operating margin was 4.8% last quarter, about level with the same quarter a year ago.
LINC Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -$3.4M | -265% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.6M | +$33.7M |
| Q1 2026 | -$10.1M | +$18.2M |
| Q4 2025 | $25M | +352% |
| Q3 2025 | $2M | +$15.8M |
| Q2 2025 | -$26.1M | -$23.4M |
| Q1 2025 | -$28.3M | -$11.6M |
| Q4 2024 | $5.5M | -44% |
LINC's free cash flow has turned positive after three years mostly in the red: $19M over the past year.
LINC Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | +5.2K shares |
| 1 year | +0.5% | +153K shares |
| 3 years | +3.4% | +1M shares |
| 5 years | +25% | +6.3M shares |
| Available history | +28% | +6.9M shares |
LINC has 31M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | — |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | — |
| Q1 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
| Q2 2023 | $335,000 |
| Q1 2023 | $556,000 |
LINC Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 0.1x | Very low |
| Q2 2026 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | -0.6x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2025 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2025 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2025 | -0.9x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | -2.2x | Net Cash |
LINC's net debt is less than a year of its operating earnings (EBITDA), after holding more cash than debt a year ago.
LINC Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 39.2 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 11.6 | Oversold |
LINC's weekly RSI is 39 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 12 (oversold).
LINC PE vs Consumer Defensive Sector
| Metric | LINC | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 30x | 19x | 55% above |
| PE % | 64 | 18 | 46 pts above |
LINC is trading at 30x earnings, a 55% premium to the Consumer Defensive sector's median of 19x.
LINC Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $21.6 | 6.2% above |
| 20 week MA | $30.2 | 24% below |
| 50 week MA | $33.7 | 32% below |
| 100 week MA | $26.5 | 13% below |
| 200 week MA | $18.1 | 27% above |
LINC's trend is mixed: it's above two of its five weekly moving averages, and 27% above its 200-week average.
LINC Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $2.12 | $6.78 | +220% |
| 2021 | $6.78 | $7.53 | +11% |
| 2022 | $7.53 | $5.55 | -26% |
| 2023 | $5.55 | $10.0 | +81% |
| 2024 | $10.0 | $15.4 | +54% |
| 2025 | $15.4 | $24.8 | +61% |
| 2026 YTD | $24.8 | $23.0 | -7.5% |
LINC has finished higher in five of the last six years, four of them by more than 50%. It's down 7.5% so far in 2026.