COCO Announces New “Private Loan” Facility, And We Use That Term Loosely This morning, COCO announced a new “private loan” facility with ASFG LLC, presumably a subsidiary of American Student...
READ MORE >In the two years since we initially introduced ESI as a short idea a great deal has changed for both the company and the for-profit postsecondary education sector at large. We would summarize the...
READ MORE >Details of the Department of Education’s Gainful Employment regulation were released this evening. The full regulation will likely be published tomorrow on the Department of Education’s website here or here, or ultimately in the Federal Register by Friday...
READ MORE >In a move that has received little fanfare thus far, yesterday Senators Durbin (D-IL), Franken (D-MN), and Whitehouse (D-RI), along with Representatives Cohen (D-TN), Davis (D-IL), Miller (D-CA), and...
READ MORE >In a move that has received little attention among investors in the for-profit postsecondary education space, approximately 10-days ago, the Appropriations Higher Education Committee in the House of...
READ MORE >Questions We Would Like to Hear on the CallHere are some of the questions that we would like to hear management answer on COCO’s upcoming 3Q11 conference call: In light of the substantial tuition price increases, why did revenue per student...
READ MORE >ESI report 4Q10 earnings and the results of their spring term enrollment intake. Overall the company reported revenues and EPS of $383.2 million and $2.91 compared to consensus of $383.3 million and...
READ MORE >For an industry that has distinguished itself in the equity markets as a consistent source of trading opportunities, the “whip-saw” action in the for-profit education sector in the first four months of the year has...
READ MORE >In a move that has been largely overlooked by most investors in the for-profit postsecondary education space, Governor Jerry Brown (CA-D) signed Senate Bill 70 into law on March 24, 2011. While SB 70 includes many other elements aimed at reducing unwieldy budget deficits in...
READ MORE >There was a time not too long ago when investors in the for-profit postsecondary education sector viewed those institutions that generated a high percentage of their revenues from Pell Grant funding...
READ MORE >At 12PM on the third Friday of every month for the past 5-months we have been gathering data from Google on essential keyword terms that are likely targeted by both higher education institutions and...
READ MORE >From what we can gather, few investors if any have paid close attention to the progress of the various securities class action suits filed against almost every one of the publicly traded for-profit postsecondary education companies. We are...
READ MORE >Let’s get this out of the way early on – we are firm believers in the concept that valuation is not a short thesis, or more simply stated valuation is not a thesis. Ask any hedge fund manager who has relied on...
READ MORE >Yesterday afternoon, the California Student Aid Commission voted unanimously to support a drastic reduction of Cal Grant awards to for-profit education institutions in the event that cuts to the program are needed to help solve...
READ MORE >Approximately 18-months ago, we scribed a letter to Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway about his sizeable ownership stake in the Washington Post Company. It might have been an audacious endeavor on our part...
READ MORE >Call us crazy, but we have been eagerly anticipating the release of ESI’s 10-K filing for several weeks now. The company finally released its 2010 10-K filing on Friday, 2/18/11 after the market close. We have to admit, we are somewhat disappointed. On...
READ MORE >The Department of Education released “trial” 3-year cohort default rate data this morning on an national level and institution by institution basis. Before we get into a discussion of the national level data and some of our findings on a school...
READ MORE >COCO reported 2Q11 earnings results this morning and will host a conference call at 12PM EST today. You can read the company’s earnings release here. The stock is trading higher based on four...
READ MORE >On Tuesday, February 1st, COCO will report 2Q11 earnings and potentially provide initial guidance for 3Q11 results. At the start of 2011, COCO finds itself at a critical impasse. The company faces ENORMOUS...
READ MORE >Today the US Department of Education released data on the number of Free Applications for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submitted during 4Q10-11 (calendar fourth quarter of 2010). In our view the FAFSA data provided by...
READ MORE >ESI report 4Q10 earnings and the results of their winter term enrollment intake. You can read the full earnings release here. We would characterize the company’s earnings results and winter...
READ MORE >For an industry that has distinguished itself in the equity markets as a consistent source of trading opportunities, the “whip-saw” action in the for-profit education sector in the first few...
READ MORE >Before we get into our discussion of our expectations for ESI's upcoming 4Q10 earnings results we wanted to highlight a few changes that we have made to our publishing process that should result in an improved experience for you, our valued...
READ MORE >At the risk of dating ourselves, we couldn't help but think of Faith No More's edgy rock tune from the late 1980's "Epic" when STRA's negative pre-announcement hit the tape late Friday afternoon."What is...
READ MORE >Heading into IPSU's 4Q10 earnings release, we thought a messy quarter would be overshadowed by commentary from management highlighting significant production gains at the company's Port Wentworth refinery. Our...
READ MORE >For several months now, we have been waiting for an update on the status of three separate qui tam actions outstanding against Kaplan Higher Education in the United States District Court Southern District of Florida. ...
READ MORE >We have argued for a long time that the broader media would take a keen interest in the transgressions that have occurred at Kaplan Higher Education given the parent company's perceived status in DC and the history of the Graham family. There have been a few critical articles...
READ MORE >Investors have not historically focused a great deal on the actions of the HLC and other accrediting agencies. On the heels of Congressional hearings, Dept. of Education scrutiny, and highly critical...
READ MORE >We want to eliminate any potential confusion immediately: As far as we know, ESI is not currently subject to an investigation from the SEC. It is not uncommon for the SEC's Division of Corporate Finance to issue comments on a...
READ MORE >Over the past several months there has been a growing bifurcation in the for-profit postsecondary education industry between those companies that have enacted significant "self regulation" measures in order to improve compliance with...
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