Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN), one of the nation’s leading technology-based education companies, today announced the results from its first fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2023.
First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Highlights Compared to 2023
- Revenue of $480.2 million, compared with $425.2 million, driven by General Education and Career Learning enrollment strength.
- Income from operations of $3.3 million, compared with loss from operations of $28.7 million.
- Net income of $4.9 million, compared with net loss of $22.7 million.
- Diluted net income per share of $0.11, compared with diluted net loss per share of $0.54.
- Adjusted operating income of $14.8 million, compared with adjusted operating loss of $19.9 million. (1)
- Adjusted EBITDA of $39.8 million, compared with $3.0 million. (1)
First Quarter Fiscal 2024 Summary Financial Metrics
| Three Months Ended September 30, | Change 2023/2022 | |||||||||||
2023 | 2022 | $ | % | |||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages and per share data) | ||||||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 480,181 | $ | 425,150 | $ | 55,031 | 12.9 | % | ||||
| Income from operations | 3,320 | (28,719 | ) | 32,039 | NM | |||||||
| Adjusted operating income (1) | 14,761 | (19,920 | ) | 34,681 | NM | |||||||
| Net income | 4,878 | (22,672 | ) | 27,550 | NM | |||||||
| Net income per share, diluted | 0.11 | (0.54 | ) | 0.65 | NM | |||||||
| EBITDA (1) | 31,337 | (2,468 | ) | 33,805 | NM | |||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA (1) | 39,763 | 3,042 | 36,721 | NM | ||||||||
(1) | To supplement our financial statements presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), we also present non-GAAP financial measures including adjusted operating income (loss), EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA. Management believes that these additional metrics provide useful information to investors relating to our financial performance. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided below. |
Revenue and Enrollment Data
Revenue
The following table sets forth the Company’s revenues for the periods indicated:
| Three Months Ended | ||||||||||||
| September 30, | Change 2023 / 2022 | |||||||||||
2023 | 2022 | $ | % | |||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages) | ||||||||||||
| General Education | $ | 299,338 | $ | 271,658 | $ | 27,680 | 10.2% | |||||
| Career Learning | ||||||||||||
| Middle - High School | 150,974 | 125,535 | 25,439 | 20.3% | ||||||||
| Adult | 29,869 | 27,957 | 1,912 | 6.8% | ||||||||
| Total Career Learning | 180,843 | 153,492 | 27,351 | 17.8% | ||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 480,181 | $ | 425,150 | $ | 55,031 | 12.9% | |||||
Enrollment Data
The following table sets forth enrollment data for students in our General Education and Career Learning lines of revenue. Enrollments for General Education and Career Learning only include those students in full service public or private programs where Stride provides a combination of curriculum, technology, instructional and support services inclusive of administrative support.
| Three Months Ended | Change | ||||||||||||
| September 30, | 2023 / 2022 | ||||||||||||
2023 | 2022 | # | % | ||||||||||
| (In thousands, except percentages) | |||||||||||||
| General Education (1) | 117.6 | 112.3 | 5.3 | 4.7 | % | ||||||||
| Career Learning (1)(2) | 70.3 | 61.6 | 8.7 | 14.1 | % | ||||||||
| Total Enrollment | 187.9 | 173.9 | 14.0 | 8.1 | % | ||||||||
(1) | This data includes enrollments for which Stride receives no public funding or revenue. |
(2) | No enrollments are included in Career Learning for Galvanize, Tech Elevator or MedCerts. |
Revenue per Enrollment Data
The following table sets forth revenue per average enrollment data for students for the period indicated. If the mix of enrollments changes, our revenues will be impacted to the extent the average revenues per enrollments are significantly different.
| Three Months Ended | Change | |||||||||||
| September 30, | 2023 / 2022 | |||||||||||
2023 | 2022 | $ | % | |||||||||
| General Education | $ | 2,381 | $ | 2,216 | $ | 165 | 7.4 | % | ||||
| Career Learning | 2,144 | 2,029 | 115 | 5.7 | % | |||||||
Cash Flow and Capital Allocation
As of September 30, 2023, the Company’s cash and cash equivalents totaled $254.6 million, compared with $410.8 million reported at June 30, 2023. The decrease is largely the result of normal seasonal expenditures incurred at the start of the school year.
Capital expenditures for three months ended September 30, 2023 were $16.1 million, compared to $16.8 million the three months ended September 30, 2022, and were comprised of $1.7 million of property and equipment, $10.0 million of capitalized software development, and $4.4 million of capitalized curriculum development.
Fiscal Year 2024 Outlook
The Company is forecasting the following for the full fiscal year 2024:
- Revenue in the range of $1.96 billion to $2.03 billion.
- Capital expenditures in the range of $65.0 million to $75.0 million. Note that capital expenditures include the purchase of property and equipment, and capitalized software, and curriculum development costs as defined on our Statement of Cash Flows.
- Effective tax rate of 25% to 27%.
- Adjusted operating income in the range of $250.0 million to $275.0 million. (1)
The Company is forecasting the following for the second quarter fiscal year 2024:
- Revenue in the range of 490.0 million to $510.0 million.
- Capital expenditures in the range of $15.0 million to $18.0 million. Note that capital expenditures include the purchase of property and equipment, and capitalized software and curriculum development costs as defined on our Statement of Cash Flows.
- Adjusted operating income in the range of $80.0 million to $90.0 million. (1)
(1) | In addition to providing an outlook for revenue and capital expenditures, adjusted operating income is provided as a supplemental non-GAAP financial measure as management believes that it provides useful information to our investors. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is provided below. Please also see Special Note on Forward Looking Statements below. |
Conference Call
The Company will discuss its first quarter fiscal year 2024 financial results during a conference call scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 5:00 p.m. eastern time (ET).
A live webcast of the call will be available at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/520963323. To participate in the live call, investors and analysts should dial (888) 210-2831 (domestic) or 1 (289) 514-2968 (international) and provide the conference ID number 4812941. Please access the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the call.
A replay of the call will be posted at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/520963323 as soon as it is available.
About Stride Inc.
At Stride, Inc. (NYSE: LRN), we are reimagining learning—where learning is lifelong, deeply personal, and prepares learners for tomorrow. The company has transformed millions of people’s teaching and learning experiences by providing innovative, high-quality, tech-enabled education solutions, curriculums, and programs directly to students, schools, the military, and enterprises in primary, secondary, and postsecondary settings. Stride is a premier provider of K–12 education for students, schools, and districts, including career learning services through middle and high school curriculums. For adult learners, Stride delivers professional skills training in healthcare and technology, as well as staffing and talent development for Fortune 500 companies. Stride has delivered millions of courses over the past decade and serves learners in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. More information can be found at stridelearning.com, K12.com, galvanize.com, techelevator.com, and medcerts.com.
Special Note on Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. We have tried, whenever possible, to identify these forward-looking statements using words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “continues,” “likely,” “may,” “opportunity,” “potential,” “projects,” “will,” “will be,” “expects,” “plans,” “intends” and similar expressions to identify forward looking statements, whether in the negative or the affirmative. These statements reflect our current beliefs and are based upon information currently available to us. Accordingly, such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, such statements. These risks, uncertainties, factors and contingencies include, but are not limited to: reduction of per pupil funding amounts at the schools we serve; inability to achieve a sufficient level of new enrollments to sustain our business model; limitations of the enrollment data we present, which may not fully capture trends in the performance of our business; failure to enter into new school contracts or renew existing contracts, in part or in their entirety; failure of the schools we serve or us to comply with federal, state and local regulations, resulting in a loss of funding, an obligation to repay funds previously received, or contractual remedies; governmental investigations that could result in fines, penalties, settlements, or injunctive relief; declines or variations in academic performance outcomes of the students and schools we serve as curriculum standards, testing programs and state accountability metrics evolve; harm to our reputation resulting from poor performance or misconduct by operators or us in any school in our industry and/or in any school in which we operate; legal and regulatory challenges from opponents of virtual public education or for-profit education companies; changes in national and local economic and business conditions and other factors, such as natural disasters, pandemics and outbreaks of contagious diseases and other adverse public health developments; discrepancies in interpretation of legislation by regulatory agencies that may lead to payment or funding disputes; termination of our contracts, or a reduction in the scope of services, with schools; failure to develop the Career Learning business; entry of new competitors with superior technologies and lower prices; unsuccessful integration of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures; failure to further develop, maintain and enhance our technology, products, services and brands; inadequate recruiting, training and retention of effective teachers and employees; infringement of our intellectual property; disruptions to our Internet-based learning and delivery systems, including, but not limited to, our data storage systems and third-party cloud facilities, resulting from cybersecurity attacks; misuse or unauthorized disclosure of student and personal data; and failure to prevent or mitigate a cybersecurity incident that affects our systems; and other risks and uncertainties associated with our business described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. All information in this press release is as of today’s date, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company’s expectations.
Financial Statements
The financial statements set forth below are not the complete set of Stride Inc.’s financial statements for the three months ended September 30, 2023 and are presented below without footnotes. Readers are encouraged to obtain and carefully review Stride Inc.’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2023, including all financial statements contained therein and the footnotes thereto, filed with the SEC, which may be retrieved from the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov or from Stride Inc.’s website at www.stridelearning.com.
STRIDE, INC. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS | |||||||||
| Three Months Ended | |||||||||
| September 30, | |||||||||
2023 | 2022 | ||||||||
| (In thousands except share and per share data) | |||||||||
| Revenues | $ | 480,181 | $ | 425,150 | |||||
| Instructional costs and services | 307,293 | 295,501 | |||||||
| Gross margin | 172,888 | 129,649 | |||||||
| Selling, general, and administrative expenses | 169,568 | 158,368 | |||||||
| Income (loss) from operations | 3,320 | (28,719 | ) | ||||||
| Interest expense, net | (2,068 | ) | (2,046 | ) | |||||
| Other income, net | 5,165 | 1,037 | |||||||
| Income (loss) before income taxes and loss from equity method investments | 6,417 | (29,728 | ) | ||||||
| Income tax benefit (expense) | (1,536 | ) | 7,507 | ||||||
| Loss from equity method investments | (3 | ) | (451 | ) | |||||
| Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders | $ | 4,878 | $ | (22,672 | ) | ||||
| Net income (loss) attributable to common stockholders per share: | |||||||||
| Basic | $ | 0.11 | $ | (0.54 | ) | ||||
| Diluted | $ | 0.11 | $ | (0.54 | ) | ||||
| Weighted average shares used in computing per share amounts: | |||||||||
| Basic | 42,500,011 | 42,076,628 | |||||||
| Diluted | 42,982,385 | 42,076,628 | |||||||
STRIDE, INC. UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS | ||||||
| September 30, | June 30, | |||||
2023 | 2023 | |||||
| (audited) | ||||||
| (In thousands except share and per share data) | ||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||
