Is American Public Education, Inc. overvalued or undervalued?

As of 7 November 2025, the valuation grade for American Public Education, Inc. has moved from attractive to very attractive. The company appears to be undervalued based on its valuation ratios, including a P/E ratio of 19, an EV to EBITDA of 6.84, and a Price to Book Value of 1.64. In comparison, its peer Despegar.com Corp. has a significantly higher P/E ratio of 51.86, while Carriage Services, Inc. shows a more favorable P/E of 26.47 but is still higher than American Public Education.
Despite a recent decline in stock performance over the past week and month, with returns of -7.23% and -16.05% respectively, the company's year-to-date return of 44.04% and one-year return of 79.08% significantly outpace the S&P 500's returns of 14.40% and 12.65%. This strong performance over longer periods reinforces the attractiveness of the current valuation.