“The cheaters usually get caught--just never soon enough. Plenty more heads will roll.” Anonymous executive in the for-profit education space Given our longstanding bearish stance on...
READ MORE >“It’s real the pain you feel, you trust, you must confess Is someone getting the best, the best, the best of you?”- Foo FightersOften wrong, never in doubt…. If we could use...
READ MORE >This is something we obviously did not see coming, but based on the action in WPO shares over the past 6-months perhaps someone else did. In retrospect, we should have given greater attention to...
READ MORE >“And you all know how the story go….Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good…”- Run-DMCWith all due respect to Monsieurs Simmons, McDaniels, and Mizell we doubt that they...
READ MORE >On Tuesday, October 16th APOL will kick-start the earnings season in the for-profit postsecondary education sector. Investor expectations for the company’s results, particularly surrounding new...
READ MORE >In many respects, WPO’s 2Q12 earnings results represent a complete validation of our short thesis on the stock. At a time when it appears most bulls on the stock own it based on some theoretical breakup value, two...
READ MORE >Make no mistake, as we navigate earnings season in the for-profit education space over the next 2-3 weeks, the poor operating results from DeVry will look like an accurate gauge of the operating...
READ MORE >Early this morning, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released its long awaited report on the Private Student Loan (PSL) industry. The report provides a broad overview of the characteristics of the private student loan market for the...
READ MORE >In case you missed it, I recently had the opportunity to speak with Leslie Norton of Barron's about PAA Research, our approach to idea generation, and some of our latest thoughts on for-profit education, payment processing and OPEN, Z, BGG, and TTC. You can find the full interview HERE.
READ MORE >There is little doubt that the for-profit postsecondary education sector has been under siege for the past 2-3 years. Most stocks in the space are trading at or near their 52-week lows and at valuations most investors and management teams in...
READ MORE >Today the 1Q12 earnings season in the for-profit postsecondary education sector kicks off in earnest. Thus far, many of the 12 issues that we thought would matter most this year have weighed...
READ MORE >Admittedly, WPO’s 4Q11 results beat our estimates by a wide margin. Normally this type of EPS upside would yield a more meaningful reaction in any given company’s stock price – that did not happen. WPO...
READ MORE >Yesterday we published a lengthy report that outlined the 12 issues that we think will have the greatest impact on the enrollment, revenue, EPS and stock sentiment of the publicly traded for-profit...
READ MORE >Perhaps it happens every year, but the relative outperformance of last year’s losers compared to the prior year’s winners has been particularly pronounced thus far in 2012. The 25 worst...
READ MORE >In many respects, WPO’s 3Q11 earnings results represent a complete validation of our short thesis on WPO shares. At a time when it appears most bulls on the stock own it based on some theoretical breakup value, two unalienable truths remain clear: 1) WPO management has no...
READ MORE >What a difference a few months can make. To put the performance of the publicly traded for-profit postsecondary education companies in perspective for the past few months, we thought it might be...
READ MORE >In an article on Insidehighered.com today entitled “Hitting Hard at Fraud”, more details on the extent of online fraud rings in higher education have emerged. As a reminder, two weeks ago, the Department of...
READ MORE >Earlier today PAA Research hosted a conference call with Deanne Loonin of the National Consumer Law Center, one of the best known and most influential non-profit consumer advocacy organizations in the...
READ MORE >PAA Research will host a conference call TODAY at 2:30PM ET with Deanne Loonin of the National Consumer Law Center, one of the best known and most influential non-profit consumer advocacy...
READ MORE >PAA Research will host a conference call at 2:30PM ET Wednesday October 5th with Deanne Loonin of the National Consumer Law Center, one of the best known and most influential non-profit consumer...
READ MORE >Earlier this week, the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General published an investigative program advisory report on “Online Education Fraud Rings”. The report was sent to Federal Student Aid (FSA) and...
READ MORE >PAA Research will host a conference call at 2:30PM ET Wednesday October 5th with Deanne Loonin of the National Consumer Law Center, one of the best known and most influential non-profit consumer...
READ MORE >On Friday, WPO management hosted its bi-annual shareholder day. If ever we had any doubts about our long term secular short case for WPO shares, they were all but removed following a series of management presentations. Based on the tenor and...
READ MORE >For the past six weeks, we feel like we have been “spitting into the wind” when it comes to our bearish call on stocks in the for-profit postsecondary education sector. Despite our best efforts...
READ MORE >In the 6 trading days following APOL’s earnings release, the shares of publicly traded for-profit postsecondary education companies have rallied anywhere from 10-20% compared to a modest sell-off of (-0.2%) for...
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 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 >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 >SELL/SHORT
$230
SELL/SHORT
$55
LONG
$70
SELL/SHORT
$4
SELL
$50
SELL/SHORT
$45
SHORT
$18
SELL/SHORT
$5
SELL/SHORT
$42
LONG
$75
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