DeVry, Inc. (NYSE:DV)

As Unemployment rates drop and the economy recovers more people will elect to take college level courses online

+50% by year end

crap.

Those who have written DeVry off as just another for-profit educator have not done their homework. It is indeed the case that most for-profit institutes of higher education are ripping off the public. High costs, low graduation rates, and low hiring rates for grads can't be ignored. (Intel recently announced it would stop paying tuition for employees taking classes through one such institution, because the classes didn't contribute to employees' skills or knowledge in any real way.)

But DeVry doesn't fit this mold. Sure, classes are as costly at DeVry as they are anywhere else. But DeVry has been around since the 1920s. They are not a for-profit university. They are a vocational school. And they know how to do job training. They have high graduation rates. Best of all, 95% of their grads get good jobs. Graduates rate the institution as outstanding, and so do employers. The CEO is a long-time educator, and he knows his stuff.

DeVry is one of those cases we all look for -- one in which Mr. Market is dead wrong at the moment. The stock is currently selling for half of what it's worth, by my calculations. If you look at the figures, you'll see that DeVry is not only highly profitable and growing by leaps and bounds; it is also offering an outstanding dividend, currently over 5%. So buy, and buy now. I've already made 15% on my purchase since I bought it in December.

Good Price

Excellent steady growth over past 10 years, no debt, ROE>20%, selling at single digit P/E. What's not to like?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/11/18/this-industry-has-a-failing-report-card.aspx

It's a very simple play, for profit colleges are enrolling ever fewer students because they are not only expensive, but of dubious value. This is not something seen at just one college, but look at all the for profits. They may beat eps, but ever declining new students will mean continue decline in earnings creating a vicious cycle of ever lower p/e. Until they fundamentally prove their worth and get it out, I don't see how they are going to succeed in the long term.

On a side note, this company tries to spin their diversification strategy as helping them weather the storm. It's a joke when you diversify your education portfolio.

I'd hire the guy without the Devry degree, ceteris paribus.

For the betterment of minority education!

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/co?s=DV+Competitors

Direct Competitor Comparison
DV APOL EDMC ESI Industry
Market Cap: 2.80B 6.37B 2.03B 1.87B 145.28M
Employees: 10,262 56,971 14,500 6,300 898.00
Qtrly Rev Growth (yoy): 7.90% -7.60% 6.90% -3.50% 9.90%
Revenue (ttm): 2.18B 4.87B 2.89B 1.58B 193.02M
Gross Margin (ttm): 57.6% 55.4% 55.0% 68.0% 57.6%
EBITDA (ttm): 558.8M 1.42B 647.8M 611.6M 28.38M
Operating Margin (ttm):22.6% 26.2% 17.4% 36.9% 10.4%
Net Income (ttm): 330.4M 428.9M 229.5M 355.1M N/A
EPS (ttm): 4.68 2.94 1.66 11.74 0.21
P/E (ttm): 8.76 15.7 9.6 5.9 12.34
PEG (5 yr expected): 0.83 1.5 0.84 0.88 0.85
P/S (ttm): 1.34 1.31 0.71 1.22 1.55

fair value is 82$

With only a few exceptions, the for-profit education sector is doomed, especially those which are heavily dependent on online revenue. Ultimately their doom won't be attributable to government intervention; that might just speed up the inevitable. The problem is competition from traditional universities, which are increasingly running for-profit ventures, as I've seen firsthand in the education industry. Competition from real universities is something most investors don't understand: most of these traditional schools are now offering online and continuing education courses, often in remote parts of the globe, that use precisely the same business models that outfits like Phoenix are using. Universities finance their traditional programs out of these for-profit enterprises. These schools have a huge leg up on the for-profit colleges: (a) zero taxes on endowment gains; (b) a reputable name/accreditation; (c) government support in the form of subsidies, grants, etc. Meanwhile, the for-profit schools only have tons of research showing that for-profit schools are the equivalent of quicksand for students. The only thing that the for-profit schools have going for them is the insistence that the free market can do everything more efficiently -- to which one can only reply: the traditional colleges have already figured that one out for themselves, and are heavily invested in for-profit strategies already.

Tough economy? Job loss? Go back to school... online. Great fundamentals.

Piotrosky screen.

Financials look good. I'm not so convinced about the quality of their products, but this is CAPS and as such I have not done enough research on that.

All of these are outstanding. DV, APOL, ESI, COCO.

Increased enrollment with 2 new campuses from Jul10 and 1 more in 2011. Increased revenue, income and EPS. Time to get some of this beaten down counter due to sector weakness.

Good record of earnings surprises, and expect education demand/growth to continue

TheScreener