Todd Nelson
Analyst · CJS Securities. Please go ahead
Thank you, Brooks. Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us on today’s call. Before I discuss the quarter, let me first acknowledge the unique challenges as well as the social and economic impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has presented to our communities.To that point, the health and wellbeing of our students, employees and communities is our top priority. Being a primarily online learning institution, most of our students were already taking classes online. Further, with the help of our scalable and innovative technology infrastructure, campus-based students are also now taking classes online.Additionally, we have transitioned to a remote work environment and provided our employees with the tools and resources necessary to work remotely. COVID-19-related costs and other impacts to us thus far, including costs of transitioned students and employees to remote environment, are not material to our operating results. We are also closely monitoring all aspects of our operations and will strive to serve our students well while promoting the health and wellbeing of our employees and communities.With that background, let us discuss the quarter. We entered 2020 with positive momentum at both universities, which resulted in first quarter results that came in ahead of our expectations. This highlights our execution against the objective of sustainable and responsible growth.Some key operational highlights include; first, growth in quarterly revenue and operating income versus the prior year quarter as we continue to prioritize investments in student-serving processes and initiatives that positively influence student experiences, retention and academic outcomes.Two, enrollment trends at both universities continue to be positive, reflecting sustained levels of prospective student interest, which was well served by our student support infrastructure. Three, our previously announced acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Trident University International was completed in early March. We’ll refer to this asset acquisition transition as the Trident acquisition for the remainder of today’s discussion.We have been working proactively on a smooth integration of Trident’s academic programs into AIU and are pleased to welcome their faculty, students, staff into our organization. The Trident acquisition enables the combined institution to continue serving existing and future students with a broader range of program offerings and resources, and is in accordance with our strategy to evaluate acquisitions of quality educational institutions and academic programs.And lastly, while transitioning students and employees to remote environment, we continued to strategically invest in our student-serving functions and looked to further enhance and improve our technological capabilities that enable our staff to better serve and support our students.I’ll expand further on some of the successes of the quarter shortly. Ashish will then cover more in more detail around the financials and provide an update of our 2020 outlook before I add some closing thoughts to end the call.Now to our operating performance for the first quarter. We reported net income of $29.1 million or $0.41 per diluted share, while adjusted earnings per diluted share, which excludes certain significant and non-cash items, was $0.42. Adjusted operating income was $40.8 million, a 23.7% increase from the prior year quarter, with the improvement primarily driven by revenue growth at our universities.We continue to focus on student retention, engagement and academic outcomes across our academic and support teams. And I believe that we are well positioned to serve and educate current and prospective nontraditional students, including adult learners. Both universities experienced enrollment growth for the quarter, with total student enrollment up 12.3%. At CTU, total enrollments as of March 31, 2020 increased 4.8%, primarily due to new enrollment growth of 16.8%.We are encouraged by these results that were supported by an increased level of efficiency within CTU’s student enrollment process. Employee tenure for various student support functions is increasing, and our teams are using technology to provide the most effective and relevant support to our students.CTU continues to maintain its corporate partnership program and is coordinating with our current partners to best serve their students during these uncertain times. Our dedicated team collaborates with our corporate partners to offer academic programs that center around the organization’s educational priorities, which makes these partnerships mutually beneficial.We have experienced improved efficiencies by CTU admission – academic and advisement teams, which have been augmented by advanced technology tools. With student experiences in mind, these teams have also focused on further improving core sequencing and orientation to promote greater student engagement and learning. Overall, we are pleased with the continued success of these various initiatives and investments as CTU continues to efficiently and effectively serve current and prospective students.Now turning to AIU. Total student enrollment as of March 31, 2020 increased 26% as compared to the prior year as a result of the Trident acquisition. As a reminder, quarterly enrollment results were significantly impacted by AIU’s academic calendar and the resulting number of enrollment days in any given quarter.There were approximately 31% less enrollment days at AIU in the first quarter of 2020 versus the prior year quarter. The negative impact of less enrollment days was partially offset with the positive impact of the Trident acquisition, and resulted in a 14.2% decline in new enrollments versus the prior year quarter.But, even after excluding this variability in enrollment days and the positive impact from Trident acquisition, we believe AIU continued to experience underlying organic growth in new student enrollments, which also contributed to revenue growth in the first quarter.We continue to invest in AIU’s admissions, advising and financial aid functions. Our graduate teams at AIU are well equipped to serve prospective student interest utilizing a holistic method to support students through the admissions and financial aid processes, and our financial aid teams continue to focus on getting students financially prepared before they start school.Increasing use of technology is enabling the advising teams to provide relevant support to our current students and we are seeing positive signs within our student engagement process. Overall, we are pleased with AIU’s progress and its efforts to effectively and efficiently integrate the Trident academic programs, students, faculty and staff into its operations.Even in the midst of transitioning our students and employees to a remote environment, technology, in general, continues to be a focus of our efforts to serve and educate students. We are expanding its use to help customize the enrollment outreach and learning processes to provide a better experience for our students. A student and faculty mobile app, data analytics using AI and machine learning and a customized student enrollment process are our current focus areas within technology.A note on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, and its positive impact on our students. Under the CARES Act, the Department of Education has provided funds for students to assist them with the financial challenges and disruptions they face in the sudden closing of the campus.These funds were to be awarded half to the students and have to the institution. However, both CTU and AIU will not be keeping any of these funds for the institution but have committed 100% of these funds to our students to assist them in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.To conclude, I’m extremely proud of the faculty and staff at both universities who have undertaken various measures and precautions to help keep our communities safe, while still delivering on their commitment to student support and education.Our faculty and advising teams have experienced increased engagement with current students and are closely working with those who have been directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic, providing them with the necessary flexibility and support as they were to complete their educational study.The hard work and dedication of our employees is helping us navigate these uncertain times while fulfilling our commitment to our students. These efforts are exemplified by our consistent operating performance, and we believe our universities are positioned to execute well against our objective of sustainable and responsible growth in 2020.A quick update on the letter from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or VA. We have provided the VA with detailed information about our current processes, which we believe should demonstrate to the VA that we are in compliance with their requirements, and that any necessary corrective action for any deficiency they have identified in their letter was previously taken. The VA has extended the period of their review by 30 days to June 7, 2020. We intend to engage in a dialogue with the VA during this period and are eager to resolve this matter quickly.With that, I’d like to hand the call over to Ashish for a more detailed review of our first quarter 2020 results, balance sheet and updated 2020 outlook, which now reflects the Trident acquisition, among other items. Ashish?