Over the past 48 hours a significant change has occurred in the operating landscape for proprietary higher education institutions. While most investors and sell-side analysts debate the eventual outcome of the Department of Education's "gainful employment" proposal,...
READ MORE >We've stated it before and we'll say it again: we are firm believers in Edward Leamer's thesis that "Housing is the Business Cycle". It continues to be the prism through which we view the economic cycle. It colors every investment idea we evaluate and how we position the PAA...
READ MORE >WPO reported 1Q10 results on 5/7. Overall, the results did little to alter our short thesis on the stock. The company beat our estimates on the topline but fell short of our EPS forecast due to lower than expected profitability at the...
READ MORE >COCO reported 3Q10 earnings results this morning. You can read the full release here. Overall, we would characterize the results as more or less inline, but they will likely be viewed as a...
READ MORE >ESI reported 1Q10 results this morning that topped PAA Research and consensus expectations. You can read the full release here. Here are the quick highlights: Revenues and EPS of $384.0 million and $2.46 beat consensus...
READ MORE >ESI will report 1Q10 results on Thursday, 4/22 before the market opens. Based on the feedback from our recent survey of privately held for-profit education institutions, we think enrollment momentum across ESI's network of...
READ MORE >In the for-profit postsecondary education sector, controversy never dies and it seems like trading opportunities are omnipresent. After a one-month period during which news flow within the industry slowed to a...
READ MORE >Earlier this week, the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) finally released its Key Operating Statistics report for FY09 (6/30/09). You can find the full report here. The report includes a comprehensive...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 3/4/10.We recently discussed WPO (446.15 ↓1.20%)’s 4Q09 results, which have prompted a 5.8% rally in shares. In our review, we highlighted how we were eagerly...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 3/2/10.We wanted to provide you with an update on the performance of our SMid Cap portfolio, which we introduced on 9/3/09. As a reminder this is a “mock” portfolio with an initial...
READ MORE >WPO reported 4Q09 results this morning. You can read all of the details here. The company’s revenue and EPS of $1.238 billion and $8.71 beat the lone set of analysts estimates out there of $1.16...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 2/21/10.ESI released its annual 10-K filing on Friday. We wanted to provide you with a few key observations and revisit some of the original tenets of our...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 1/21/10.ESI reported 4Q09 results this morning. You can read the full press releasehere. Overall we would characterize the results as a solid beat relative to...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 1/19/10.ESI will report 4Q09 results on Thursday, before the market opens. Here are the issues which we expect to be at the forefront of investor concerns heading into and subsequent to the company’s earnings...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 1/6/10.ZipRealty Inc. announced preliminary revenue results for 4Q09. You can read the full releasehere. Overall, the company topped consensus revenue...
READ MORE >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. ...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 12/16/09.Shares of SIG (29.54 ↓0.94%) have pulled back in the past 10-days following ZLC (3.03↓6.19%)’s 10-Q filing, in which Zale’s reported...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 11/8/09.In a recent letter to Warren Buffet, we voiced our concerns about what seem to be growing regulatory issues at Washington Post Company (WPO 444.32 ↓2.02%)’s most...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 10/30/09.We wanted to address a few issues related the for-profit education sector: WPO (445.09↓1.85%)’s 3Q09 results, a few thoughts on COCO (17.28 ↓1.20%)’s 10-Q filing and a playbook for the...
READ MORE >This report was originally published on 10/28/09.We are closing out our short idea in Smith and Wesson (SWHC 4.74 ↑0.42%). We are also removing the SWHC short position from our PAA Research SMid Cap portfolio. Even though we think consensus estimates remain...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >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...
READ MORE >ESI reported 3Q09 result this morning. You can find the release here. Overall the company beat by approximately $5 million on the topline and $0.03 on the bottomline. Here are our quick...
READ MORE >SELL/SHORT
$4
SELL
$50
SELL/SHORT
$45
SHORT
$18
SELL/SHORT
$5
SELL/SHORT
$42
LONG
$75
LONG
$128
SELL/SHORT
$50
SELL/SHORT
$50
LONG
$5.50
SHORT
$50
SHORT
$28
LONG
$65
LONG
$37
PAIR TRADE
$10
PAIR TRADE
$30
LONG
$35
SHORT
$35
SELL/SHORT
$10
SHORT
$101
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$0
SHORT
$9
SHORT
$0
PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC
25%
PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC
25%
SHORT
$14.00
SHORT
$22
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$20
SHORT
$31
SHORT
$35
SHORT
$30
PAIR - LONG KNL/SHORT MLHR
25%
SHORT
$100
LONG
$8
LONG
$20
SHORT
$22
PAIR - LONG CSGP/SHORT LOOP
40%
LONG
$35
SHORT
$275
SHORT
$0