Ashish Ghia
Analyst · Barrington Research
Thank you, Todd. I will review the second quarter 2020 results and then discuss our balance sheet and 2020 outlook before handing the call back to Todd for his closing remarks.All comparisons are versus the comparative prior year period, unless otherwise stated. Before I begin, a quick comment on the year-over-year comparability. Operating results for AIU now reflect the Trident acquisition, commencing on March 2, 2020. Total company operating income for the second quarter was $37.4 million as compared to operating income of $0.2 million in the prior year. As a reminder, the prior year quarter included a $30 million expense related to the FTC settlement. We believe adjusted operating income, which excludes certain significant and non-cash items, is more reflective of the underlying operating performance. This measure increased 27.2% to $41.7 million for the quarter, and was above the high end of our outlook range of $38 million to $40 million. Net income for the quarter was $28.2 million or $0.40 per diluted share, while adjusted earnings per diluted share, which we believe is more reflective of the underlying operating performance, was up 20.6% to $0.41 per share. The improvement in adjusted operating income was primarily due to revenue growth at both universities, which reflects underlying enrollment growth that was well supported by our student-serving operations. Also benefiting our second quarter results was the Trident acquisition as well as COVID-19-related savings associated with reduced employee health insurance expenses, occupancy-related expenses, travel and other events. Partially offsetting these positives were incremental investments in marketing and student-serving functions, costs associated with compliance and monitoring efforts and legal expenses related to the recently resolved VA matter. Now on to more specific details around the second quarter. Total company revenue increased by $19.6 million or 12.5% to $176 million as compared to the prior year quarter. As it relates to our segments, revenue at CTU was up $3.6 million or 3.8% to $100.2 million for the quarter, reflecting new and total student enrollment growth, while operating income of $33.1 million was up from $12.1 million in the prior year quarter. Please note that the prior year quarter included $18.6 million of expenses related to the FTC settlement. From an expense perspective, CTU continues to be diligent in prioritizing expenditures on student support initiatives. Incremental expenses incurred within marketing and student-serving functions were partially offset with cost efficiencies achieved across various administrative processes and reduced expenses associated with pandemic-related savings. Now to AIU. Revenue increased 26.7% to $75.8 million for the quarter, supported by the Trident acquisition and underlying organic enrollment growth. Operating income for the quarter was $10.5 million as compared to an operating loss of $4.2 million in the prior year quarter. Recall that the prior year quarter included an $11.4 million expense related to the FTC settlement. AIU too continues to focus on achieving efficiencies across various administrative processes and experienced pandemic-related savings, while marketing expenses were higher for the quarter. Separately, while bad debt expense as a percent of revenue stabilized for the quarter, please do keep in mind that from a comparability perspective, AIU’s operating expenses exhibited year-over-year increase across most line items due to the Trident acquisition. Let me briefly touch on bad debt expense. As a percentage of revenue, bad debt expense for the company was lower sequentially from the first quarter and as compared to the prior year quarter. We continue to invest resources to help students financially prepared for school, so that they are more likely to complete their program of study. While we still expect fluctuations, we are encouraged with the year-to-date progress in this area. Moving on to student enrollments. Total enrollments at CTU grew by 4%, supported by new enrollment growth of 4.5% versus the prior year quarter. The enrollment growth is reflective of consistent levels of prospective student interest that are being well served by the investments made in our admissions and advising functions. Looking forward, we expect new student enrollments at CTU to grow in the third quarter and for the full year 2020. Total student enrollments at AIU increased 52.7% as of June 30, 2020, while new student enrollments increased 118.8% for the quarter. Please note that these results reflect a full quarter of the Trident acquisition. The positive impact of the Trident acquisition as well as 50% more enrollment days in the quarter contributed to the new enrollment increase versus the prior year quarter. Recall that the academic calendar at AIU, specifically the number of enrollment days in any given quarter has a significant impact on the new student enrollments for that quarter. Looking forward, we expect new student enrollments at AIU to grow in the third quarter and also show growth for the full year 2020. Please note that on a full year basis, AIU’s 2020 academic calendar is relatively comparable to 2019 with a consistent number of revenue and enrollment days for each year. Also, enrollment days for the third and fourth quarters of 2020 will be comparable for each quarter as compared to the respective prior year quarter. Now a quick update on Corporate and Other. This category includes residual operating losses associated with closed campuses. Operating losses associated with closed campuses were approximately $0.4 million in the second quarter as compared to $1.8 million, with the improvement primarily driven by lower professional fees associated with legacy legal matters. Excluding operating losses associated with closed campuses, corporate costs were relatively in line with the prior year quarter. Now to income taxes. We recorded a provision for income taxes of $10.3 million for the current quarter, which resulted in an effective tax rate of 26.7%. The tax rate for the quarter includes an increase of approximately 0.3% related to the release of previously recorded tax reserves and the tax effect of stock-based compensation. For 2020, we expect our tax rate to be between 25.5% and 26.5%, without assuming any material benefit related to the release of tax reserves and the tax effect of stock-based compensation for the second half of the year. Also, the full year estimated rate assumes a negative impact due to increase in tax reserves and the tax effect of expenses that are not deductible for tax purposes. Separately, we ended 2019 with approximately $108.5 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards, which are available to offset future taxable income. As a result, specifically as it relates to 2020, we do not expect to pay any federal income taxes. Now let me spend a few minutes reviewing our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $345.8 million of cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and short-term investments, which will be referred to as cash balances for the remainder of today’s discussion. This represents an increase of $51.6 million over year-end 2019. Key drivers of cash for the first half of the year are: positive cash flows from university operations were partially offset by cash outflows related to the Trident acquisition; payments related to the settlement of the Oregon arbitration matters; annual and long-term incentive payments; and share repurchases in the first quarter. Capital expenditures were approximately $2.4 million in the second quarter as compared to $0.9 million in the prior year quarter. For the full year 2020, we foresee capital expenditures to be approximately 1.5% of revenues. As noted previously, we completed the acquisition of substantially all of the assets of Trident University International on March 2. The cash purchase price, net of working capital adjustment, was $43.8 million, with the final purchase price payment of $5.7 million paid during July of 2020. Please note that the $4 million of the total purchase price was paid into an escrow and is reflected as restricted cash on our balance sheet. Overall, the company is executing well against its objective of sustainable and responsible growth, with investments in student-serving initiatives and technology showing positive results. Finally, to our 2020 outlook. The outlook incorporates anticipated COVID-19 pandemic related costs, such as transitioning students and employees to a remote environment and providing ongoing technology support and restructuring costs related to the Trident acquisition. Further, please note that the outlook assumes no material impact to future operating results from the COVID-19 pandemic, again, an assumption based on our experiences to date. So for the full year 2020, outlook is as follows: we are maintaining our adjusted operating income outlook to be in the range of $151 million to $155 million as compared to $134.3 million in 2019. This is consistent with our overall objective of sustainable and responsible growth. Adjusted earnings per diluted share is to be in the range of $1.48 to $1.52 per share versus $1.37 in 2019. Now for the third quarter outlook. Our third quarter outlook reflects the company’s expectation of growth in new student enrollments at CTU and AIU. Further, the company expects adjusted operating income to be in the range of $35 million to $36 million versus $34 million in the prior year quarter and adjusted earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $0.34 to $0.35 versus $0.35 in the prior year quarter. Please refer to our earnings release filed today for important information about the key assumptions and factors underlying this outlook and other expectations discussed on today’s call as well as the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations. With that, I will turn the call back over to Todd for his closing remarks. Todd?