Stride, Inc. (NYSE:LRN) Q1 2024 Earnings Conference Call April 23, 2024 5:00 PM ET

Company Participants

Timothy Casey - VP, IR
James Rhyu - CEO
Donna Blackman - CFO

Conference Call Participants

Alex Paris - Barrington Research
Greg Parrish - Morgan Stanley
Tom Singlehurst - Citi
Matthew Filek - William Blair

Operator

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Stride Third Quarter Fiscal 2024 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Timothy Casey, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Timothy Casey

Thank you, and good afternoon. Welcome to Stride's third quarter earnings call for fiscal year 2024. With me on today's call are James Rhyu, Chief Executive Officer; and Don Blackman, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's conference call and webcast are accompanied by a presentation that can be found on the Stride Investor Relations website.

Please be advised that today's discussion of our financial results may include certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these measures is provided in the earnings release issued this afternoon and can also be found on our Investor Relations website. In addition to historical information, this call may also involve forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to several important factors as described in the company's latest SEC filings.

These statements are made on the basis of our views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time we make them, and the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call. Following our prepared remarks, we will answer any questions you may have.

I will now turn the call over to James. James?

James Rhyu

Thanks, Tim, and good afternoon.

The state of education in the United States continues to evolve, but more importantly, the way parents and students view that education is evolving. Every survey and research I have seen this year confirms that customers want choice. A recent survey by the National School Choice Awareness Foundation strongly supports this. Of those survey, almost 3/4 indicated that they'd at least considered a new school for their child over the past year and that is up from just over half last year.

Almost two-thirds looked for a new school for their child and over half said they were likely to consider a different school over the coming year and the paradigm on college as a default option for students is beginning to show real cracks. In a recent survey of high school students, more students sell that on-the-job training courses, leading to licensure and courses leading to professional certifications were a better value than 2- or 4-year college degrees. That value equation between college and skills training is swinging in favor of skills training.