Release Date: May 07, 2024
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
Positive Points
- American Public Education Inc reported a 3% increase in revenue to $154 million in Q1 2024 compared to the same period last year.
- Adjusted EBITDA significantly improved, totaling $17.1 million in Q1 2024, a 143% increase from Q1 2023.
- The company has successfully exceeded its adjusted EBITDA guidance for five consecutive quarters.
- Enrollment at APUS and Hondros showed positive growth, with APUS experiencing a 3% increase in net course registrations and Hondros seeing a 22% increase in enrollment.
- American Public Education Inc is increasing its full-year 2024 guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA, reflecting strong financial performance and confidence in continued growth.
Negative Points
- Rasmussen University experienced a 6% decrease in enrollments from the previous year, although the rate of decline is slowing.
- The company reported a diluted loss per common share of $0.06 in Q1 2024, indicating some ongoing financial challenges.
- Revenue at Rasmussen and the graduate school declined, partially offsetting the revenue growth from other segments.
- Some Rasmussen programs did not meet the required state benchmarks for pass rates, although improvements are being made.
- American Public Education Inc faces challenges with IT transitions and campus relocations, which could impact operations and costs in the short term.
Q & A Highlights
Q: Good afternoon. Tom, with the goal to get Rasmussen back to total enrollment growth in the back half of the year, how should we think about what that would mean for segment EBITDA margins there if you're successful?
A: Patriot's, it's Rick. As we've as we've said, the fixed cost nature of the campus based business with would have high accretion with increases in those enrollments, right. And I think I think we've previously said we expect rest to get to breakeven EBITDA by the end of the year until you see reaching breakeven enrollment increasing enrollment should result in will result in breakeven or positive EBITDA.
Q: Thanks. That makes sense. And it seems like a good pickup in revenue per student or a bus this quarter. Can you just outline the drivers of that, whether it was pricing increases, mix and any expectations on revenue pursuing over the balance of the year?
A: It's both mix and modest tuition increases, Jasper, there is also an impact on if you just do a straight calculation of revenue per student of the timing of the start at a pace that monthly started the first Monday of each month. And so is that it may be earlier in the month with a, but the 1st of the month start, you're going to see a little bit higher revenue per -- if that start is pushed off to the 7th of the month, right, that whatever the Dave, the first day of the month is so it's a combination of mix price increases as well as just the simple timing of those monthly starts.
Q: That's helpful. And last question for me. I wanted to dig a bit more into the floor, the Rasmussen programs that were put on probation in March and could you outline for us, I guess, first of all, if that creates any restrictions on your ability to enroll new students at those campuses and just what you're doing kind of in response to that?
A: Hi, Jasper. Thanks for the question. And you know that we've been paying careful attention over the last and your point around our quarterly incollect pass rates because we want to show quarter-over-quarter improvement. What's interesting about those two campuses and frankly is true of all of our campuses in Florida is that if you were to exclude Q1 of '23 from the calculation for all of 2023, so doing 2Q through 4Q, our each of our Florida campuses was significantly past. And so while modeling we recognize, that's not how the state does the calculation.
Q: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question and congratulations on the beaten raise. I thought maybe I would dig a little bit into critical investments planned for 2024. You've sort of telegraphed that that would be the case. You have a higher CapEx expectation for the full year. I'm just wondering if you can review for us what are the relative or what are the investments per institution Rasmussen, APUS, Hondros and how are they coming along? And are they front end loaded or back end loaded or evenly spread?
A: Hi, Alex and Angie. I'll start and then I'll ask Rick to follow along if I've missed anything. Let's start with Hondros because there are some important things happening there.
Q: Good. Super helpful. And then the question is, is CapEx sort of peaking this year or do you expect a similar level going forward?
A: Well, certainly with the campuses, you know, we're not going to be moving CapEx because every year we do sell, you're going to see probably a moderation because of that.
Q: Thank you for taking my questions. And again, congratulations for really good results in the and the beat and raise. I wanted to can I touch upon again Rasmussen and there were certain changes that were put in place. The new management that was I'm integrated into and the operations and enrollments were an issue would you would you characterize Rasmussen as under control in terms of enrollments? And then can you give some color on them on the cost control it address mission?
A: Sure. I'll start Rick, and then certainly weigh in here for me and nice day here for me, Raj. So yes, the management team has now been in place for a year and first and foremost, there is clarity around the campus program combinations for all of our campus-based programs and the marketing investments that we're making to grow and re-weight the mix so that we are growing both and nursing and non-nursing on the campuses.
For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.
