Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Q2 2024 Earnings Conference Call August 6, 2024 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Brian Mueller - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Daniel Bachus - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Steven Pawlak - Baird

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 2024 Grand Canyon Education 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 your first speaker today, Dan Bachus, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Daniel Bachus

Hello. 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 the 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 will turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Mueller

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Grand Canyon Education's second quarter 2024 conference call. GCE had another strong quarter, producing online enrollment growth of 7.5% and hybrid growth of 12.1% and also continuing to produce strong retention rates, exceeding revenue guidance estimates at midpoint by $4.5 million, producing a $0.17 beat in adjusted diluted earnings per share to consensus while continuing to invest heavily in initiatives for our university partners. Grand Canyon Education and its largest partner, Grand Canyon University as well as GCE's 21 other partners continue to grow enrollments in the midst of declining enrollments at many universities across the country.

I want to start by reviewing the reasons that this is happening. There is a vast amount of untapped potential in the American labor force today. The lack of created delivery models by universities is the reason for the untapped potential. The best examples are the huge shortages that exist in nursing, teaching, technology, engineering and cyber security, just to name a few. Expecting every student who has potential in these areas to attend an on-campus setting seriously reduces the size of the potential market.