Tag Archives: APOL

Chart of the Week: Do Your Remember When APOL Was Known For Enrolling High Quality Working Adults?

February 21, 2010 – 2:49 pm

Our entry for chart of the week is sure to send a painful reminder to shareholders of APOL about Friday’s sell-off.  APOL provided initial guidance for its 2Q10 earnings which were well below consensus expectations.  The primary culprit – bad debt expense.  APOL management expects bad-debt expense as a percentage of revenue to be 6.8-7.1% [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education | Also tagged , , , | Comments (1)

PAA Research For-Profit Education Survey Suggests Enrollment Growth for the Winter Term Remained Robust, Some Slowdown Expected in 2010, and Some Schools Have Already Introduced “Self Regulation”

January 26, 2010 – 4:39 pm

We recently conducted a survey of privately-held for-profit postsecondary education institutions.  Our goal was to gain a better understanding of enrollment trends, identify which programs are resonating most with the education consumer, evaluate lead flow trends, learn more about cost-per-lead expectations in 2010, and to determine how institutions are preparing for the transition from a [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The Dept. of Education Fires A Shot Across the Bow of the Higher Learning Commission (HLC)

December 17, 2009 – 4:33 pm

The education stocks are trading off today following the release of a memorandum from the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).   You can find the memorandum here.  Effectively the OIG has asked the Department of Education to review the status of the HLC and potentially “limit, suspend, or terminate HLC’s recognition by the [...]

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WPO Alters Revenue Recognition Policy for Kaplan Higher Education, More Enrollment Reconcilliation

November 8, 2009 – 6:58 pm

In a recent letter to Warren Buffet, we voiced our concerns about what seem to be growing regulatory issues at Washington Post Company’s most important division, Kaplan Higher Education.  From an outsiders perspective the magnitude and rate of increase in 2-year cohort default rates at many of the company’s schools is alarming in the context of [...]

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WPO’s 3Q09 Results, What is an Enrollment at Kaplan? COCO’s 10-Q Filing

October 30, 2009 – 4:16 pm

We wanted to address a few issues related the for-profit education sector: WPO’s 3Q09 results, a few thoughts on COCO’s 10-Q filing and a playbook for the Negotiated Rulemaking sessions (NegReg) to be held next week.
Washington Post Company is a For-Profit Education Company That Also Owns Newspaper, Cable, Magazine and Broadcasting Businesses, Please Act Accordingly…
We continue [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (2)

Apollo Group’s 4Q09 Results Send Shockwaves: Could the SEC Inquiry Relate to Accounting for Student Withdrawals? APOL Backs Away From Lower Quality Students

October 28, 2009 – 1:08 am

Readers of our research know that we have been bearish on the for-profit education sector for the past few quarters based on our concerns about growing fundamental headwinds, increasing regulatory scrutiny, and what we view as significant structural issues for a few operators in the sector. Outside of our analysis of COCO’s bad-debt expense recognition, [...]

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A Question of Recourse – The GAO Report Might Not Have Been As Bad As Feared, but It Still Confirmed Our Short Thesis

September 22, 2009 – 8:28 am

For those of you that have followed our research since inception, you are probably intimately familiar with our concerns about the for-profit education sector.  We have been bearish on a few of the publicly traded for-profit education providers for the past few months. As a reminder, The central tenets of our investment thesis are as [...]

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Preparing for the Release of the Final FY07 Cohort Default Data – Which Stocks Could Be Impacted

September 11, 2009 – 11:10 am

On Monday or Tuesday of next week, the Department of Education will release final cohort default data for FY07.  Before we get into company specific discussions, we wanted to review how the default rate data is calculated and provide you with an outline of the timing of future release dates for cohort default rate data. 
How Cohort [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Some Quick Thoughts on the Credit Suisse For-profit Education Sector Downgrade and ESI’s Upcoming Earnings Release

April 21, 2009 – 6:49 pm

The leading for-profit postsecondary education providers (APOL, CECO, COCO, DV, ESI, STRA) all sold off in excess of 5% today following a series of downgrades from Credit Suisse. It appears Credit Suisse is increasingly concerned that the appointment of Bob Shireman as deputy undersecretary of Education will represent a new age of regulatory [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education, Short Ideas | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Whatever Happened to “the More You Learn, the More You Earn”? The Structural Problems with ESI’s Business Model

April 20, 2009 – 9:17 am

Please make sure to click on the link at the end of the post to read our full write-up on ESI.

We have followed the for-profit education sector for almost a decade now. Companies such as Apollo Group, DeVry, Inc. and ITT Educational Services, Inc., among others, have generated fantastic enrollment, revenue and EPS as [...]

By PAA Research | Posted in For-profit Education, Initial Investment Idea Write-ups, Short Ideas | Also tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)