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For-Profit EDU: Keyword Price Inflation Continues Unabated, 5 Critical Observations from our Proprietary Paid Search...

March 23rd, 2011

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...

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For-Profit EDU: Why the Amended Complaint Against DV Might Be Worth Reading

March 8th, 2011

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...

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OPEN: The “TAM” Fallacy and the Implications of a Solution without a Problem – Time to Get Short

March 2nd, 2011

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...

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COCO: Potential Cal Grant Cuts Could Exacerbate COCO’s Mounting “90/10” Challenges

February 26th, 2011

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...

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WPO: The Long Retrenchment At Kaplan Begins, Assessing WPO’s Earnings Power Going Forward

February 24th, 2011

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...

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ESI: 10-K Observations and Plenty of Lingering Questions

February 21st, 2011

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...

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Winners and Losers from the FY08 3-Year CRD Data – The Usual Suspects

February 4th, 2011

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...

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COCO: Tuition Price Increases to the Rescue! Not So Fast, COCO Runs from One Regulatory Wall to Another, Financial...

February 1st, 2011

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...

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COCO: Can COCO Remain Profitable in the Face of Fundamental Headwinds AND Escalating Regulatory Risk?

January 31st, 2011

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...

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For-Profit Education: 4Q10 FAFSA Data Confirms Enrollment Slowdown Across ALL of Higher Education

January 24th, 2011

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...

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ESI: Headline 4Q10 EPS Beat Driven Entirely by Share Repurchases – A New Paradigm for Marketing Cost Per Student...

January 20th, 2011

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...

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For-Profit Postsecondary Education: Checks with Private Institutions Indicate STRA Was Not an Anomaly, the Slowdown Is...

January 19th, 2011

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...

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ESI: Thoughts on Upcoming 4Q10 Results, Winter Term Enrollment

January 18th, 2011

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...

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For-Profit Education: What is "It"? The Implications of STRA's Pre-Announcement and APOL's Upcoming Earnings Release

January 10th, 2011

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...

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IPSU: Begrudging Progress At Port Wentworth Offset by Newfound Mgmt. Optimism - Revising FY11 Estimates

December 30th, 2010

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...

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WPO: FL Judge Rules on Motion to Dismiss in 1 of 3 Qui Tams, Tail Risk Continues to Grow

December 22nd, 2010

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.  ...

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WPO - Finally the Story Has Been Written

December 22nd, 2010

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...

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Higher Learning Commission (HLC) Adopted and Proposed Policy Changes Could Have Wide Reaching Implications on...

December 9th, 2010

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...

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ESI: SEC Correspondence Suggests Heightened Scrutiny of Accounting Treatment of PEAKS

November 30th, 2010

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...

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Implications of Explosive Keyword Price Inflation on the For-Profit Education Sector

November 23rd, 2010

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...

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Key Observations from Our Proprietary Survey of Independent Jewelery Retailers

November 22nd, 2010

We recently conducted a survey of approximately 20 independent specialty jeweler retailers. The purpose of our survey was to: Gain greater insight on sales trends in the first few weeks of the holiday season Determine how independent...

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WPO: More Than One Qui Tam Will Go Forward, "Tail Risk" Continues to Grow

November 10th, 2010

Approximately two and a half months ago, we published a report that argued that the tail risk associated with owning WPO shares continued to increase.  Today we received further evidence that "tail risk" continues to grow for the company.Filing...

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WPO: 3Q10 Revenue and EPS Upside Should Be Overshadowed By Rapid Deterioration in Key Operating Metrics

November 5th, 2010

Admittedly, WPO's headline earnings results for 3Q10 appear to be compelling. The company reported total revenues of $1.189 billion and adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $11.40.  This compares to our...

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WPO: See You at the Crossroads, 17 Questions Heading into 3Q10 Earnings

November 3rd, 2010

On Friday, November 5th, WPO will report 3Q10 earnings.  WPO is at a significant crossroads.  Fundamental demand for the company's primary growth vehicle over the past five years has changed abruptly at a time when secular headwinds facing WPO's...

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COCO: Management's Strategy Appears to be "It's Not Our Fault", Debt Levels Now Appear to be a Major Problem

November 2nd, 2010

In our 1Q11 earnings preview for COCO, we argued that the company's first quarter earnings could represent a seminal event.  As we stated in our preview:"The decisions management makes over the next 3-6 months...

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COCO: The Burden of Proof Falls on Management, Re-Examining the Value of Heald

November 1st, 2010

COCO will report 1Q11 earnings before the market opens on Tuesday, November 2nd.  In our view, the company finds itself in an extraordinarily precarious position irrespective of what happens with the Dept. of Educationa's Gainful Employment...

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3Q10 FAFSA Volumes Provide Further Confirmation That Enrollment Trends Are Rolling Over

October 26th, 2010

Over the past few weeks, three large, publicly traded for-profit postsecondary education companies reported earnings.  The general feedback from each company (APOL, CPLA, and ESI) has been fairly similar: 1) new student starts have...

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ESI: Please Help Us Answer A Few Questions, Examining ESI's Leverage

October 26th, 2010

Long time followers of our research know that we have been bearish on the earnings prospects and consequently the share price potential of ESI for quite some time. In light of our views on the stock, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise that our...

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ESI: Key Observations from 3Q10 Results, the Higher Education "Moonshot" Appears to be Over

October 21st, 2010

ESI's third quarter results and fall term enrollment intake add further credence to our argument that the higher education "moonshot" in demand has come to an end.  Below we discuss some of our key observations from the...

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ESI: Our Estimates

October 20th, 2010

ESI will release 3Q10 earnings tomorrow morning and host a conference call at 11AM.  We wanted to make sure all of our subscribers had our estimates heading into the earnings release.  Here are our key assumptions. THEY DO NOT INCLUDE THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF GAINFUL EMPLOYMENT.Fall Term Intake We...

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