Yahoo Finance Lincoln (LINC) to Witness Solid Student Start Growth in Q1
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation LINC recently unveiled that it expects to continue its strong business momentum in the first quarter of 2024. The company projects student start growth to improve by approximately 15% compared with 6.4% (excluding the transitional segment) in the first quarter of 2023.
Scott Shaw, president and CEO of LINC, said, “Our expected strong start growth in Q1 builds on the momentum we generated during 2023, which led to increased student starts, student retention, graduation and placement rates with employers as well as the achievement of all of our financial guidance objectives during the year.”
In 2023, new student starts increased 11.4% from 2022. Revenues increased 8.6% to $376.6 million, backed by a 10.3% rise in Campus Operations segment revenues.
For 2024, the company expects revenues in the range of $410-$420 million, with starts growth between 7% and 12%. Adjusted EBITDA is likely to be $35-$40 million versus $26.5 million reported in 2023.
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Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have surged 98.8% compared with the Zacks Schools industry’s 52.5% rise in a year.
LINC has built a new East Point campus in Georgia, which is planned to have its first enrolled class in March 2024. Additionally, it plans for the opening of the Houston campus and campus relocation efforts in Nashville and Philadelphia in 2024. Program expansions across the existing campuses are expected to be operational in the second half of this year.
The company remains on track to complete the transition to its highly scalable hybrid instructional platform, Lincoln 10.0, by the end of 2024 and is anticipated to reduce instructional costs contribution by 2025. The Lincoln 10.0 platform’s hybrid teaching model increases program efficiency and delivers accelerated revenue recognition in certain evening programs.
Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks in the same space are:
Adtalem Global Education Inc. ATGE currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 16.9%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATGE’s fiscal 2024 sales and earnings per share (EPS) implies growth of 6.4% and 10.2%, respectively, from the year-ago levels.
Strategic Education, Inc. STRA currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 18.8%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STRA’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates gains of 7.8% and 31.9%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.
Stride, Inc. LRN currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 19.6%, on average.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LRN’s 2024 sales and EPS indicates rises of 13.2% and 5.7%, respectively, from the year-ago period’s levels.
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Strategic Education Inc. (STRA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (LINC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Stride, Inc. (LRN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Adtalem Global Education Inc. (ATGE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
