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

March 12th, 2010

This report was originally published on 2/21/10.Our entry for chart of the week is sure to send a painful reminder to shareholders of APOL(63.11 ↓0.52%) about Friday’s sell-off.  APOL provided initial guidance for...

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COCO Continues to Struggle With High Cohort Default Rates – “Self Regulation” Is Not Only Likely, It’s Necessary

March 12th, 2010

This report was originally published on 2/9/10.In an 8-K filing this morning, COCO (17.72 ↑1.72%) disclosed its draft 2-year cohort default rate (CDR) data for FY08, which was released to...

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Quick Comments on COCO’s 2Q10 Results: Higher Retention Sparks Revenue Upside, Starts Fall Short, EPS Beat Driven by...

March 12th, 2010

This report was originally published on 2/2/10.COCO reported 1Q10 results this morning.  You can read the full press releasehere. Overall the company delivered upside to consensus on both the top...

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PAA Research For-Profit Education Survey Suggests Enrollment Growth for the Winter Term Remained Robust, Some Slowdown...

March 12th, 2010

This report was originally published on 1/26/10.We recently conducted a survey of privately-held for-profit postsecondary education institutions.  Our goal was to gain a better understanding of...

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

March 11th, 2010

This report was published on 12/17/09.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 memorandumhere. ...

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Unofficial FY07 3-Year Cohort Default Rates Come In-line With Expectations, Now Comes the Hard Part for COCO and WPO

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published on 12/14/09.The Department of Education released unofficial 3-year cohort default rate data this morning.  You can find the DOE’s press release here, which also...

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Preparing for the Release of Unofficial 3-Year Cohort Default Rate Data – Follow the Script, At the Very Least...

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published on 12/9/09.We have expressed our concerns in the past about the impact the transition from a 2-year to a 3-year cohort default rate calculation could have on the...

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Details of Department of Education Negotiated Rulemaking Proposals Leak Out – Incentive Comp and Program...

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published 12/1/09.The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) distributed its first round of proposals to the negotiated rulemaking panel on Monday on Program Integrity Issues...

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Apollo Group’s 4Q09 Results Send Shockwaves: Could the SEC Inquiry Relate to Accounting for Student Withdrawals? APOL...

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published 10/28/09.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...

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COCO’s Upcoming 1Q10 Results: More Bad-Debt Expense “Slight of Hand”? How Long Can Lead Cost Deflation Last?

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published on 10/27/09.Corinthian Colleges, Inc. will report 1Q10 results on Thursday before the market opens.  Overall we expect the company to post inline results highlighted...

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COCO Takes a Bigger Bite in California – Analyzing the Heald Capital (Heald College Acquisition)

March 11th, 2010

This report was originally published on 10/20/09.Corinthian Colleges (COCO 17.39 ↓0.57%), Inc. announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Heald Capital, the owner of Heald Colleges for a total consideration of...

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At Least For Now For the Bulls In For-Profit Education “It Just Doesn’t Matter”, Next Up Earnings and “NegReg”

March 10th, 2010

This report was originally published 10/14/09.A hearing was held today by the House Committee on Education and Labor entitled: “Ensuring Student Eligibility Requirements for Federal Aid”.  You...

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SF Weekly Article Harshly Criticizes COCO’s Business Practices

March 10th, 2010

This report was originally published on 9/30/09.SF Weekly has published an article today about Corinthian Colleges and the broader for-profit education sector.  You can find the article here.  Overall the article appears to villify the for-profit...

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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

March 10th, 2010

This report was originally published on 9/22/09.For those of you that have followed our research since inception, you are probably intimately familiar with our concerns about the for-profit education...

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The Winners and Losers from the FY07 Cohort Default Data

March 10th, 2010

This report was originally published on 9/15/09.Yesterday, the Department of Education released student loan cohort default rate data for the 2007 fiscal year.  Overall, the national student loan cohort default rate (CDR) increased from 5.2% to 6.7%.  As we...

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

March 10th, 2010

This report was originally published on 9/11/09.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...

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COCO’s Bad-Debt Expense Slight of Hand, 25%+ Cohort Default Rates Are Coming, It Appears Regulatory Headwinds Could...

March 10th, 2010

This report was published on 8/27/09.We have written extensively about our concerns about the for-profit postsecondary education space and ITT Educational Services, Inc. in particular.  Our primary...

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Current Ideas

EXPI

SELL/SHORT

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HUSQ.B

SELL

$50

UFPI

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$45

TREX

SHORT

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PRDO

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STRA

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CWH

LONG

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OSTK

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CM

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RY

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ARC

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AYI

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BIG

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XOXO

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RLGY

PAIR TRADE

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RDFN

PAIR TRADE

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BCO

LONG

$35

ING.PA

SHORT

$35

TRUP

SELL/SHORT

$10

CTC

SHORT

$101

ATGE

SHORT

$15

HCG.TO

SHORT

$0

RON.TO

SHORT

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ESI

SHORT

$0

BGG

PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC

25%

TTC

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25%

Z

SHORT

$14.00

NA.TO

SHORT

$22

ZU

SHORT

$15

TRLA

SHORT

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MCRS

SHORT

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APOL

SHORT

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OPEN

SHORT

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KNL

PAIR - LONG KNL/SHORT MLHR

25%

CSGP

SHORT

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GCA

LONG

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IPSU

LONG

$20

MLHR

SHORT

$22

LOOP

PAIR - LONG CSGP/SHORT LOOP

40%

THQI

LONG

$35

WPO

SHORT

$275

COCO

SHORT

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HNI

SIG

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