Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 16, 2023 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Dan Bachus – Chief Financial Officer

Brian Mueller – Chief Executive Officer

Conference Call Participants

Jeff Meuler – Baird

Operator

Hello, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Grand Canyon Education Inc. Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speakers’ presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to CFO, Dan Bachus. Sir, you may begin.

Dan Bachus

Joining me on today’s call is our Chairman and CEO, Brian Mueller. Please note that many of our comments today will contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Various factors could cause our actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such statements.

These factors are discussed in our SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to provide updates with regard to forward-looking statements made during this call and we recommend that all investors review these reports thoroughly before taking a financial position in GCE.

And with that, I’ll turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Mueller

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Grand Canyon Education’s fourth quarter fiscal year 2022 conference call. GCE had a very good quarter, exceeding enrollment expectations, exceeding revenue guidance at mid-point by $2.7 million and producing an $0.11 beat in adjusted diluted earnings per share to consensus. Given how most of higher education is coming out of the COVID years, these are excellent results.

Most importantly, GCU online new enrollment growth for the second consecutive quarter in the mid-teens, over fourth quarter prior year, and that momentum is expected to continue into the first quarter of 2023.

I want to begin by – again by taking a step back and explaining why this is happening and briefly review what has happened since the GCE-GCU transaction took place 4.5 years ago. I have said often that in the past, small and elite has won a day in higher education, especially in areas like U.S. News and World Report rankings.

In the future, it will be institutions who are large, scalable and flexible in how they offer higher education. We expect to impact young people and adults across the lifespan, using technology to build platforms that take into account the life situation of the student and the nature of the content and skills that need to be learned.