Apollo Group (APOL) Surges After Record Quarter, Boosts Sector

June 30, 2009 12:49 PM EDT

Shares of University of Phoniex parent Apollo Group Inc. (Nasdaq: APOL) are screaming higher today, and is taking the for-profit secondary education sector with it, following better-than-expected results after the close on soaring degree enrollment.

Apollo Group reported Q3 EPS of $0.85, ex-items, or $1.26 on a GAAP basis, versus the analyst estimate of $1.12. Revenue for the quarter cracked the billion dollar mark for the first time, rising 25.9% to $1.05 billion versus the consensus of $1.04 billion. Degreed Enrollment at University of Phoenix rose 22% to 420,700 during the third quarter.

Apollo is also set to expand globally with the pending acquisition of BPP Holdings plc in the desirable U.K. market.

Apollo Group also raised its share buyback plan to $500 million, after repurchasing $444.4 million in stock in Q3.

On a sour note, bad debt expense increased 100 basis points to 3.4% of revenue compared to 2.4% a year ago. In addition, selling and promotional expense increased approximately 20% year over year but as a percentage of revenue declined 120 basis points to 23.2% from 24.4%.

Apollo Group's strong results are boosting a number of stocks in the group:

• Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA) +2.4%
  
• American Public Education (Nasdaq: APEI) +1.9%
  
• Career Education (Nasdaq: CECO) +5%
  
• Capella Education (Nasdaq: CPLA) +2.5%
  
• Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq: LOPE) +3%
  
• ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) +6.5%
  
• DeVry (NYSE: DV) +5%
  
• Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO) +5%

Related Categories

Insiders' Blog

Stocks Mentioned

Related Entities

• Stock Buyback

Add Your Comment

Name

Subject

Body

Verification can't see the text?
click here to refresh the image.
what's this?