Stride Inc (LRN) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Stride, Inc. Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，感謝大家的支持，歡迎參加 Stride, Inc. 2023 財年第四季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

Tim Casey, Vice President of Investor Relations, you may begin your conference.

蒂姆·凱西，投資者關係副總裁，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, and good afternoon. Welcome to Stride's Fourth Quarter Earnings Call for Fiscal Year 2023. With me on today's call are James Rhyu, Chief Executive Officer; and Donna 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.

謝謝你，下午好。歡迎參加 Stride 2023 財年第四季度收益電話會議。參加今天電話會議的有首席執行官 James Rhyu；和首席財務官唐娜·布萊克曼。提醒一下，今天的電話會議和網絡廣播還附有演示文稿，您可以在 Stride 投資者關係網站上找到該演示文稿。

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.

請注意，今天對我們財務業績的討論可能包括某些非公認會計準則財務指標。今天下午發布的收益報告中提供了這些措施的協調表，也可以在我們的投資者關係網站上找到。除了歷史信息外，本次電話會議還可能涉及前瞻性陳述。由於該公司最新的美國證券交易委員會文件中描述的幾個重要因素，該公司的實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述存在重大差異。

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.

這些陳述是基於我們做出這些陳述時對未來事件和業務績效的看法和假設而做出的，公司不承擔更新本次電話會議期間所做的任何前瞻性陳述的義務。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將回答您可能提出的任何問題。

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

我現在將把電話轉給詹姆斯。詹姆士？

Thanks, Tim, and good afternoon, everyone. The past few years have brought change and disruption to how people live, work, entertain and learn, among other things. There is no doubt to me, however, as these challenges and opportunities present themselves, core primary education will remain key to our society.

謝謝蒂姆，大家下午好。過去幾年，人們的生活、工作、娛樂和學習等方式發生了變化和顛覆。然而，毫無疑問，隨著這些挑戰和機遇的出現，核心初等教育仍將是我們社會的關鍵。

The latest disruption seems to be generative AI and how it will change every aspect of our lives and all facets of the economy, including education. But we must also recognize that change is a constant, and I believe the best organizations embrace change. I believe that this iteration of change will have a massive impact on our industry. First and foremost, I think we need to appreciate that K-12 education as we know it today will not be going away anytime soon. In fact, I think AI has the ability to transform K-12 education in a very positive way that will enable our students to accelerate and personalize their learning in ways we have dreamed about but not really achieved previously.

最新的顛覆似乎是生成式人工智能，以及它將如何改變我們生活的各個方面和經濟的各個方面，包括教育。但我們也必須認識到，變化是永恆的，我相信最好的組織會擁抱變化。我相信這種迭代的變革將對我們的行業產生巨大的影響。首先，我認為我們需要認識到，我們今天所知的 K-12 教育不會很快消失。事實上，我認為人工智能有能力以非常積極的方式改變 K-12 教育，使我們的學生能夠以我們夢想但以前沒有真正實現的方式加速和個性化他們的學習。

For example, when we consider the training and education required to become a computer engineer, well, maybe we should be teaching some of those skills in high school, but not in terms of computer programming, but instead in terms of navigating the functional output of the code that AI will provide for them. Since Stride was founded over 20 years ago, it has been at the forefront of personalized learning for students. And AI has the ability to personalize student feedback, assessments and content at the individual level like nothing before.

例如，當我們考慮成為一名計算機工程師所需的培訓和教育時，也許我們應該在高中教授其中一些技能，但不是在計算機編程方面，而是在導航功能輸出方面。 AI將為他們提供的代碼。自 20 多年前成立以來，Stride 一直處於學生個性化學習的前沿。人工智能能夠在個人層面上個性化學生的反饋、評估和內容，這是前所未有的。

AI-powered content can provide customized lessons to students based on their learning style and free up teachers to spend more time with students and less time on administrative tasks. And giving teachers more time to actually teach will allow them to spend individual time with students and provide a human connection. The relationships that teachers build with students are incredibly important for student outcomes, and AI-powered learning will allow those to flourish. Ultimately, I believe that giving teachers an incredible AI toolkit will be beneficial for both students and teachers.

人工智能驅動的內容可以根據學生的學習風格為他們提供定制課程，並讓教師有更多的時間與學生在一起，減少處理管理任務的時間。給予教師更多的實際教學時間將使他們能夠與學生共度個人時間並提供人際關係。教師與學生建立的關係對於學生的成績非常重要，而人工智能驅動的學習將使這些關係蓬勃發展。最終，我相信為教師提供令人難以置信的人工智能工具包將對學生和教師都有利。

So how does Stride fit into the developing AI landscape? For starters, we are embracing AI, both for internal efficiency gains as well as for external customer-facing products. We don't have any announcements to make today. The landscape of AI is quickly evolving, and we want to be sure to take a measured and long-term approach and not just hop on the bandwagon for headline's sake. We will provide a more in-depth view on how we are approaching AI at an upcoming Investor Day.

那麼 Stride 如何適應不斷發展的人工智能領域呢？首先，我們正在擁抱人工智能，既是為了提高內部效率，也是為了外部面向客戶的產品。我們今天沒有任何公告要發布。人工智能的格局正在迅速發展，我們希望確保採取審慎且長期的方法，而不是僅僅為了標題而跟風。我們將在即將到來的投資者日更深入地介紹我們如何處理人工智能。

We do need to recognize a couple of things in our approach. First is that students and teachers will be adopting generative AI regardless of what the establishment's stance is. Recent surveys already confirm this. Our job will be to ensure that we provide interactive learning experiences that build up the durable skills students will need to adapt to the evolving demands of the marketplace. Ensuring we prepare students with the skills they can take with them through their entire careers is incredibly important.

我們確實需要在我們的方法中認識到一些事情。首先，無論機構的立場如何，學生和教師都將採用生成式人工智能。最近的調查已經證實了這一點。我們的工作是確保提供交互式學習體驗，培養學生適應不斷變化的市場需求所需的持久技能。確保我們為學生提供他們在整個職業生涯中可以使用的技能是非常重要的。

We've already been applying AI internally to supplement many of the ongoing efficiency efforts we've talked about before. We believe we can continue to increase productivity and automate many of the routine administrative tasks for both teachers and corporate employees. We will also continue to improve the user experience with AI-powered chatbots while removing friction in our admission and enrollment funnel. It should also allow us to generate content, from assessments to practice materials to full courses, much faster than previously.

我們已經在內部應用人工智能來補充我們之前討論過的許多正在進行的效率工作。我們相信，我們可以繼續提高教師和企業員工的生產力並實現許多日常管理任務的自動化。我們還將繼續改善人工智能聊天機器人的用戶體驗，同時消除我們的錄取和註冊渠道中的摩擦。它還應該使我們能夠比以前更快地生成從評估到練習材料再到完整課程的內容。

We will begin to roll out additional personalized learning tools to further strengthen student outcomes. We can use AI-powered programs to track progress and intervene earlier when a student is struggling. This will allow us to provide personalized learning at greater scale and real time, resulting in stronger student outcomes. Teachers will remain core to our offerings. While AI is good at following instructions and completing tasks, you need teachers to foster creativity and develop critical thinking skills. Teachers can encourage students to explore new ideas, solve problems, use data, create models and provide mentorship in ways AI cannot.

我們將開始推出更多個性化學習工具，以進一步提高學生的成績。我們可以使用人工智能驅動的程序來跟踪進度，並在學生遇到困難時儘早進行干預。這將使我們能夠更大規模、實時地提供個性化學習，從而提高學生的成績。教師仍將是我們服務的核心。雖然人工智能擅長遵循指令和完成任務，但你需要老師來培養創造力和培養批判性思維能力。教師可以鼓勵學生探索新想法、解決問題、使用數據、創建模型並以人工智能無法做到的方式提供指導。

Now I also want to talk about our improved operations and execution from this year and the results that demonstrate the success we've had. It was a record year for us on a number of fronts. We had record revenue, adjusted operating income and adjusted EBITDA. We topped $700 million in Career Learning revenue, including more than $100 million in our adult learning business, both records. We had our best in-year retention ever. We saw more demand in-year than ever before, finishing the year with more enrollments than we started with for the first time in our over 20-year history.

現在我還想談談今年以來我們改進的運營和執行以及證明我們所取得成功的結果。對於我們來說，今年在許多方面都是創紀錄的一年。我們的收入、調整後營業收入和調整後 EBITDA 均創歷史新高。我們的職業學習收入突破了 7 億美元，其中成人學習業務收入超過 1 億美元，均創歷史新高。我們取得了有史以來最好的年度保留率。我們看到今年的需求比以往任何時候都多，年底的入學人數比年初多，這在我們 20 多年的歷史上首次。

Our earnings per share was also a record at almost $3 per share. While we rarely talk about EPS, we trade at a P/E ratio in the low teens. For a company that is growing near double digits for multiple years, has a very attractive future growth profile and TAM, we believe that is a fairly low multiple and represents a great value. These results reinforce our belief that families view us as an option when they feel like their current school's not delivering what they need. And increasingly, families now recognize that they have a choice when it comes to their child's education and they are choosing us.

我們的每股收益也創下了每股近 3 美元的紀錄。雖然我們很少談論每股收益，但我們的市盈率處於十幾歲以下。對於一家連續多年以接近兩位數的速度增長、擁有非常有吸引力的未來增長概況和 TAM 的公司來說，我們認為這是一個相當低的倍數，但代表著巨大的價值。這些結果強化了我們的信念，即當家庭覺得當前的學校無法滿足他們的需求時，他們會將我們視為一個選擇。現在，越來越多的家庭認識到他們在孩子的教育方面有選擇，並且選擇了我們。

And when families come to us, they remain incredibly satisfied. I've mentioned our Net Promoter Score previously. And this year, we achieved a Net Promoter Score of 68 for our schools. Of all of our achievements, our Net Promoter Score might be the one I'm most impressed with. It shows that our efforts are translating to a more satisfied customer. And all of these metrics indicate we are delivering for our customers, and they have led to improving in-year retention, which is at its highest level ever.

當家人來到我們這裡時，他們仍然非常滿意。我之前提到過我們的淨推薦值。今年，我們學校的淨推薦值達到了 68 分。在我們所有的成就中，淨推薦值可能是令我印象最深刻的一項。這表明我們的努力正在轉化為更加滿意的客戶。所有這些指標都表明我們正在為客戶提供服務，並且它們提高了年內保留率，達到了有史以來的最高水平。

We also won some incredible awards for our business and content this year. We won the EdTech Breakthrough Awards for Online Education Solution Provider of the Year. We captured a Bronze Stevie Award from the American Business Awards for our Minecraft world education product and a Gold Stevie for MedCerts' human anatomy course. We were also shortlisted for EdTech Company of the Year by Global Business Tech Awards. And the list goes on. On top of all the accolades we receive, we continue to launch innovative partnerships and programs across our schools.

今年我們的業務和內容還贏得了一些令人難以置信的獎項。我們榮獲 EdTech 年度在線教育解決方案突破獎。我們的 Minecraft 世界教育產品榮獲美國商業獎史蒂夫銅獎，MedCerts 人體解剖學課程榮獲史蒂夫金獎。我們還入圍了全球商業技術獎頒發的年度教育科技公司獎。而這樣的例子不勝枚舉。除了我們獲得的所有讚譽之外，我們還繼續在學校內推出創新的合作夥伴關係和項目。

MedCerts and Coursera launched a partnership to bring in-demand health care courses to Coursera's global learners. We deepened our relationship with Southern New Hampshire University to lower the cost of tuition for graduates of eligible Stride-powered programs. And we announced a new initiative at our career program in Colorado to offer a free and reduced lunch program to all eligible students. This will allow these students to get access to nutritious meals while still learning from home on Stride. These are just to name a few. All the incredible work that the team has put in to improve our curriculum continue to offer innovative and engaging partnerships is paying off.

MedCerts 和 Coursera 建立了合作夥伴關係，為 Coursera 的全球學習者提供熱門的醫療保健課程。我們加深了與南新罕布什爾大學的關係，以降低符合條件的 Stride-powered 項目畢業生的學費。我們在科羅拉多州的職業計劃中宣布了一項新舉措，為所有符合條件的學生提供免費和減價的午餐計劃。這將使這些學生能夠在在家中通過 Stride 學習的同時獲得營養膳食。這些僅舉幾例。該團隊為改進我們的課程而繼續提供創新和有吸引力的合作夥伴關係所付出的所有令人難以置信的工作正在得到回報。

Now I realize everybody is also wanting to hear about how our fall enrollment season is shaping up. And as I mentioned earlier, this initial data comes with a caveat that it is still very early on our enrollment season. We've made some good progress, and even though it's early, we've seen some positive indications. A couple of examples. We launched a new k12.com website, which is our consumer site for enrollments, and we are seeing some initial positive conversion trends from that site. We've also improved our messaging and even incorporated some generative AI to enable us to more rapidly deploy and test different messaging.

現在我意識到每個人也想听聽我們的秋季招生季進展如何。正如我之前提到的，這個初始數據附帶一個警告，即我們的招生季節還處於早期階段。我們已經取得了一些良好的進展，儘管還為時尚早，但我們已經看到了一些積極的跡象。舉幾個例子。我們推出了一個新的 k12.com 網站，這是我們用於註冊的消費者網站，我們從該網站看到了一些初步的積極轉化趨勢。我們還改進了消息傳遞，甚至融入了一些生成式人工智能，使我們能夠更快速地部署和測試不同的消息傳遞。

Additionally, our strong in-year enrollment and retention in fiscal year '23 means that we finished the year in a good position to retain students for the upcoming school year. Given this data, we are well positioned to return to enrollment growth for the first time since the pandemic. And when I became CEO, I said my #1 goal is to ensure we grow every year, and I believe we are currently on track to do so. Before I conclude, I want to reiterate a singular position I have. We are here to embrace change and innovation. We want to disrupt the status quo. Stride can change the future.

此外，我們在 23 財年強勁的年內入學率和保留率意味著我們在這一學年結束時處於有利地位，可以為下一學年留住學生。鑑於這些數據，我們完全有能力自大流行以來首次恢復入學增長。當我成為首席執行官時，我說我的第一目標是確保我們每年都成長，我相信我們目前正在實現這一目標。在結束之前，我想重申我的獨特立場。我們來這裡是為了擁抱變革和創新。我們想要打破現狀。跨越可以改變未來。

Thank you so much for your time today, and I'll turn the call over to Donna. Donna?

非常感謝您今天抽出時間，我會將電話轉給唐娜。唐娜？

Thank you, James, and good afternoon, everyone. I'll start with a recap of our reported results for the full fiscal year. Revenue for the year was $1,837,000,000, an increase of 9% over the prior fiscal year. Adjusted operating income was $201 million, up 7%, and capital expenditures were $66.5 million, a slight decrease from last year. Once again, we were able to beat the expectations we provided in our guidance last quarter for revenue and profitability. I'm incredibly proud of our results. We were able to deliver revenue and profitability growth even while facing inflationary headwinds. More importantly, we did this while continuing to deliver strong academic results for the students we serve.

謝謝詹姆斯，大家下午好。我將首先回顧一下我們報告的整個財年的業績。本年度收入為 1,837,000,000 美元，比上一財年增長 9%。調整後營業收入為2.01億美元，增長7%，資本支出為6650萬美元，比去年略有下降。我們再次超出了上季度指導中提供的收入和盈利能力預期。我對我們的成果感到非常自豪。即使面臨通貨膨脹的逆風，我們也能夠實現收入和盈利能力的增長。更重要的是，我們在這樣做的同時繼續為我們服務的學生提供出色的學術成果。

Let me provide more detail on our results for the year. Career Learning remains a strong growth driver for us, increasing more than 70% this year to $706 million. In our middle and high school business, revenue totaled $586.8 million on enrollments for the year of 65,900. Enrollments were up 57% from last year. Revenue per enrollment finished the year up 16.3% to $8,885. Adult learning revenues came in at $119.2 million, up over 30% from last year. General Education revenues finished the year with revenue of $1,131,000,000, down 11% from last year. General Ed enrollments for the year were 112,300. Revenue per enrollment increased to $9,270, up 14.4% from last year.

讓我提供有關我們今年業績的更多詳細信息。職業學習仍然是我們強勁的增長動力，今年增長了 70% 以上，達到 7.06 億美元。在我們的初中和高中業務中，全年入學人數為 65,900 人，收入總計 5.868 億美元。入學人數比去年增加了 57%。全年每名註冊學生的收入增長了 16.3%，達到 8,885 美元。成人學習收入為 1.192 億美元，比去年增長 30% 以上。全年普通教育收入為 11.31 億美元，比去年下降 11%。當年普通教育入學人數為 112,300 人。每次入學收入增加至 9,270 美元，比去年增長 14.4%。

We finished the year with gross margins of 35.2%, just slightly down from last year. We were able to significantly mitigate inflationary pressures this year and believe there are still opportunities for additional margin improvement in the coming years. We are still confident we can achieve our long-term gross margin target of 36% to 39% by 2025.

今年我們的毛利率為 35.2%，僅比去年略有下降。今年我們能夠顯著減輕通脹壓力，並相信未來幾年仍有機會進一步提高利潤率。我們仍然有信心到 2025 年能夠實現 36% 至 39% 的長期毛利率目標。

For the year, selling, general and administrative expenses were $481.6 million, up 9.5% from last year. This increase was largely driven by our growth in adult learning as well as investments in new products and additional marketing costs. Stock-based compensation expense was $20.3 million. Interest expense totaled $8.4 million. Our full year tax rate was 26.3%. Adjusted operating income for the year was $201 million, up $12.9 million from last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $296.2 million, up $23.1 million.

全年銷售、一般及管理費用為 4.816 億美元，較去年增長 9.5%。這一增長主要是由於我們在成人學習方面的增長以及對新產品的投資和額外的營銷成本推動的。股票補償費用為 2,030 萬美元。利息支出總計 840 萬美元。我們的全年稅率為 26.3%。全年調整後營業收入為 2.01 億美元，比去年增加 1,290 萬美元。本年度調整後 EBITDA 為 2.962 億美元，增加 2,310 萬美元。

Profitability increases were driven by increases in revenue per enrollment, the efficiency efforts and growth in adult learning. Diluted earnings per share totaled $2.97, up $0.45 from fiscal 2022. Capital expenditures for the year totaled $66.5 million. Free cash flow, defined as cash from operations less CapEx, totaled $136.6 million. This is a slight decrease from last year, mostly attributable to timing. We ended the year with cash and cash equivalents of $410.8 million.

盈利能力的增長是由每名入學收入的增加、效率提升和成人學習的增長推動的。稀釋後每股收益總計 2.97 美元，比 2022 財年增加 0.45 美元。本年度資本支出總計 6650 萬美元。自由現金流（定義為運營現金減去資本支出）總計 1.366 億美元。這比去年略有下降，主要歸因於時機。年底，我們的現金和現金等價物為 4.108 億美元。

Overall, fiscal year 2023 was a strong year for Stride. In the face of strong inflationary headwinds and a challenging enrollment comparison to the pandemic-driven years of 2022 and 2021, we were still able to grow both revenue and profitability, all while continuing to deliver strong student outcomes and finishing the year with more enrollments than we began with, a first in the company's history.

總體而言，2023 財年對於 Stride 來說是強勁的一年。面對強勁的通脹逆風以及與大流行驅動的2021 年相比具有挑戰性的入學率，我們仍然能夠實現收入和盈利能力的增長，同時繼續提供強勁的學生成績，並以超過2021 年的入學人數結束學年。我們從公司歷史上的第一次開始。

As you know, each year at this time, we get asked about current enrollment trends, and we always say it's too early to predict our overall enrollment for the current year. James provided some early indicators we are looking at, but I think it's incredibly important to understand that historically, August and September are our busiest months. This means it's an incredibly busy time for Stride and that there remains some uncertainties around enrollment for the upcoming school year. So while the current trends lead us to believe we will increase overall enrollments from last year, there's still a lot of work to be done.

如您所知，每年的這個時候，我們都會被問及當前的入學趨勢，我們總是說現在預測今年的總體入學人數還為時過早。詹姆斯提供了我們正在關注的一些早期指標，但我認為了解歷史上八月和九月是我們最繁忙的月份非常重要。這意味著對於 Stride 來說，現在是一個非常繁忙的時期，並且下一學年的入學仍然存在一些不確定性。因此，雖然當前的趨勢使我們相信我們的總體入學人數將比去年有所增加，但仍有很多工作要做。

With that in mind, as we typically do, we will wait to provide formal guidance when we report our first quarter results in October. However, I do want to provide some initial thoughts. With the current early enrollment and revenue per enrollment trends, we believe we are well positioned to continue to grow both revenue and profitability for the full year. Revenue per enrollment will continue to be favorable, though not at the rate we saw last year. We think it will be more in line with the historical trend of between 1% and 3%. Revenue and profit seasonality should be in line with historical trends, excluding the pandemic years of 2022 and 2021.

考慮到這一點，正如我們通常所做的那樣，我們將等到 10 月份報告第一季度業績時提供正式指導。不過，我確實想提供一些初步的想法。根據目前的早期註冊和每次註冊收入的趨勢，我們相信我們處於有利位置，可以繼續增加全年的收入和盈利能力。每次入學的收入將繼續有利，但不會達到我們去年看到的水平。我們認為會更符合1%到3%之間的歷史趨勢。收入和利潤的季節性應符合歷史趨勢，不包括2022年和2021年的大流行年份。

We think that gross margins should improve next year, driven by the annualization of some of the efficiencies we've put in place this year. SG&A expenses and CapEx spend will increase slightly as we continue to invest in growth drivers. Our interest expense, tax rate and stock-based compensation should be similar to fiscal year '23. Taken together, we anticipate another year of improving profitability, keeping us on track to achieve our fiscal year 2025 target. I look forward to providing further additional information on our long-term trajectory during our fall Investor Day.

我們認為，在我們今年實施的一些效率年化的推動下，明年的毛利率應該會有所改善。隨著我們繼續投資於增長動力，SG&A 費用和資本支出將略有增加。我們的利息支出、稅率和股票薪酬應該與 23 財年類似。總而言之，我們預計盈利能力將在新的一年有所提高，從而使我們有望實現 2025 財年的目標。我期待在秋季投資者日期間提供有關我們長期發展軌蹟的更多信息。

Thank you all for your time today. Now I'll turn it over to the operator for Q&A. Operator?

感謝大家今天抽出時間。現在我將其轉交給接線員進行問答。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Jeff Silber with BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Jeff Silber。

I just want to clarify something. I think you said that -- again, I know it's early, but you think that you'll be returning to overall enrollment growth in fiscal '24. That was not necessarily a comment by the different segments, Gen Ed versus Career Learning. We're just talking about the total pie. Is that correct?

我只是想澄清一些事情。我想你說過——再說一遍，我知道現在還為時過早，但你認為你將在 24 財年恢復總體入學增長。這不一定是不同部門（Gen Ed 與職業學習）的評論。我們只是在談論整個餡餅。那是對的嗎？

Yes, that's correct.

對，那是正確的。

Okay, great. And I know again, I know you're not giving specific numbers, but I think on prior calls, in August, you've talked a little bit more about some of the early enrollment indicators tracking in terms of inquiries, et cetera. I don't know if there's any more color you can give like you've done in prior years.

好的，太好了。我再次知道，我知道您沒有提供具體數字，但我認為在八月份之前的電話會議中，您更多地談到了一些早期註冊指標在查詢等方面的跟踪。我不知道你是否還能像前幾年那樣提供更多的顏色。

Yes. So I think generally speaking, we consider demand as really a function of our application volumes. Year-over-year so far through this enrollment season, our application volumes are stronger than last year. That's one indicator that makes us believe that our enrollments are going to grow. If you actually parse the commentary from last August a little bit, I was, I think, pretty careful about saying I thought we were going to grow this fiscal year. I actually didn't refer to enrollment growth for this fiscal year. I am referring to enrollment growth for this fiscal year, so I think that is a little bit different than last year.

是的。所以我認為一般來說，我們認為需求實際上是我們申請量的函數。與去年同期相比，截至本招生季，我們的申請量比去年強勁。這是一個讓我們相信我們的入學人數將會增加的指標。如果你真的稍微分析一下去年八月的評論，我想，我在說我認為我們本財年將會增長時非常謹慎。實際上我沒有提到本財年的入學人數增長。我指的是本財年的入學人數增長，所以我認為這與去年有點不同。

We continue to see -- within the demand, we continue to see strong conversion, which I think indicates that we're able to generate demand that is, I'd say, higher-quality demand and so we continue to see improvements there. And yes, I think overall, we're feeling -- as we sit here today, we feel pretty good about enrollment growth for the fall.

我們繼續看到——在需求範圍內，我們繼續看到強勁的轉化，我認為這表明我們能夠產生需求，即更高質量的需求，因此我們繼續看到那裡的改進。是的，我認為總體而言，當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們對秋季入學人數的增長感到非常滿意。

The one thing I'd add, Jeff, to that, we're still -- as James mentioned, we're still like very early in the process, in the enrollment season. But one thing that I talked about, I've been talking about all year is that we had strong in-year enrollment growth this year. And so we ended the year with strong retention in-year enrollment, and so we're starting from a stronger place. Again still very early, but that's something else that gives us a little bit of insight into why we think we'll grow enrollment next year.

傑夫，我要補充的一件事是，正如詹姆斯提到的，我們仍然處於招生季節的早期階段。但我談論的一件事，我一整年都在談論的是，今年我們的入學人數增長強勁。因此，我們以強勁的當年入學率結束了這一年，因此我們從一個更強大的地方開始。還是很早，但這讓我們對為什麼我們認為明年的入學人數會增加有一些了解。

All right. That's really helpful. If I can just sneak one more in. James, I really appreciate your initial discussion about the impact of generative AI on the business. And again, I know it's way too early. But if you can give us some insight in terms of things that we might be seeing being rolled out over the next year or 2, whether it's internally or externally, I think that will be helpful.

好的。這真的很有幫助。如果我能再偷偷插一句的話。詹姆斯，我真的很感謝你最初討論生成式人工智能對業務的影響。再說一遍，我知道現在還為時過早。但是，如果您能為我們提供一些關於我們可能會在未來一兩年內推出的內容的見解，無論是內部還是外部，我認為這都會有所幫助。

Yes. So listen, I think -- I doubt there's a company out there that you cover that isn't thinking about how generative AI can impact their business, either from an efficiency internal standpoint or from an external product standpoint. I think we believe that it's going to impact us positively on both fronts, meaning internal efficiency as well as sort of external product-facing stuff.

是的。所以聽著，我想——我懷疑你所報導的公司是否沒有考慮生成式人工智能如何影響他們的業務，無論是從內部效率的角度還是從外部產品的角度來看。我認為我們相信它將在兩個方面對我們產生積極的影響，即內部效率以及面向外部產品的東西。

I think we're big believers in the positive impact generative AI can have on the K-12 online school experience. And I could sort of give you a couple of examples of how we're thinking, that these aren't products necessarily that we're going to be rolling out next year or 2. But how we're thinking about it, our teachers, which I think -- I believe are going to continue to be at the core of our product. And good teaching is, I don't think in any near term, going to get displaced by generative AI.

我認為我們堅信生成式人工智能可以對 K-12 在線學校體驗產生積極影響。我可以給你們舉幾個例子來說明我們的想法，這些產品不一定是我們明年或兩年推出的產品。但我們的老師們是如何考慮的，我認為- 我相信這將繼續成為我們產品的核心。我認為在短期內，良好的教學不會被生成式人工智能所取代。

The connections that teachers can build with students, I don't think we're at a point where I see generative AI being able to replace. What I do see is generative AI being able to replace a lot of the administrative work that teachers do and therefore will allow them to spend more direct time with students. Whether that's grading papers, whether that's administrative tasks around taking attendance and things like that process, but there's certainly a lot of efficiency that we can roll out for our teachers that will directly impact the customer experience, i.e., the students.

教師與學生建立的聯繫，我認為我們還沒有達到生成人工智能能夠取代的程度。我確實看到生成式人工智能能夠取代教師所做的許多行政工作，因此將使他們能夠花更多的時間直接與學生相處。無論是對試捲進行評分，還是有關考勤的管理任務以及類似的流程，但我們肯定可以為教師提供很多效率，這將直接影響客戶（即學生）的體驗。

And so I think we're focusing on a lot of those. But I think we're also -- I think we're very clear in our commitment to delivering a teacher-focused experience as well. So I think where we stand today, we're committed to our teachers. We believe a teacher-led experience is important. And I think we can make that job easier for the teachers and therefore, the experience for the students better.

所以我認為我們正在關注其中的很多內容。但我認為我們也非常明確地致力於提供以教師為中心的體驗。所以我認為我們今天的立場是對我們的老師的承諾。我們相信老師主導的體驗很重要。我認為我們可以讓老師的工作變得更輕鬆，從而讓學生獲得更好的體驗。

On the back end, I mean, I think we're already starting to see, in ways that most people won't see, huge benefits in content creation, whether that's curriculum content creation, marketing content creation but content creation in general. We're starting to see huge efficiencies, I think. The whole customer journey of getting enrolled, I think we start to see already some nice benefits in that experience. And so we've -- we have -- well, I say we. I have sort of an internal approach to this, I call it modern-day hack, which just gets everybody involved in.

在後端，我的意思是，我認為我們已經開始以大多數人看不到的方式看到內容創建的巨大好處，無論是課程內容創建、營銷內容創建還是一般內容創建。我認為我們開始看到巨大的效率。在註冊的整個客戶旅程中，我認為我們已經開始看到這種體驗中的一些不錯的好處。所以我們——我們——嗯，我說我們。我對此有一種內部方法，我稱之為現代黑客，它讓每個人都參與其中。

If you're familiar with like sort of hackathon in the technology space, AI gives us the ability for basically every employee to participate in generative AI. They can hack through solutions for problems that we have in the company. And so we've introduced this sort of modern-day hack concept. So we're crowd-sourcing within our own company, an ability to really find ways to solve problems using generative AI. So I think we're only at the very beginning stages. And like I said, I don't have any big announcements today to make, but we're very excited about the prospect of what it can do for our business in positive ways that are going to help us grow.

如果您熟悉技術領域的黑客馬拉松，那麼人工智能使我們基本上每個員工都有能力參與生成式人工智能。他們可以破解我們公司遇到的問題的解決方案。因此，我們引入了這種現代黑客概念。因此，我們在自己的公司內進行眾包，從而能夠真正找到使用生成人工智能解決問題的方法。所以我認為我們還處於起步階段。就像我說的，我今天沒有任何重大公告要發布，但我們對它能夠以積極的方式為我們的業務帶來的前景感到非常興奮，這將幫助我們成長。

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Parrish with Morgan Stanley.

你的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的格雷格·帕里什（Greg Parrish）。

I'll spare you the enrollment question, I think we covered it well. I just want to talk about marketing this year versus prior years. I think you talked on a few calls about being a little bit more aggressive than you have in the past, also maybe some missteps last summer. And you highlighted a few in your prepared remarks utilizing AI. If you could unpack that a little bit, talk about what you're doing different this summer and some of the early successes you might be seeing.

我就不提註冊問題了，我想我們已經很好地討論了。我只想談談今年與往年的營銷情況。我想你在幾次電話中談到了比過去更加激進的態度，也許去年夏天也犯了一些錯誤。您在利用人工智能準備的發言中強調了一些內容。如果你能稍微解釋一下這個問題，請談談你今年夏天做了什麼不同的事情以及你可能會看到的一些早期成功。

Yes. I mean, I think -- so last year, I think we had some operational missteps in our marketing program. And listen, that's on me. I think some of our marketing missteps were actually around discipline and being disciplined about where we invest, how we invest, which channels we invest in. I think when we see volumes softening, having the discipline to pull the course on making good investments as opposed to just trying to sort of pray and spray and hope we get higher volumes. I think that this year, I give Donna a lot of credit. I think she's really instilled in this company an incredible amount of discipline.

是的。我的意思是，我認為去年，我認為我們的營銷計劃存在一些運營失誤。聽著，這是我的事。我認為我們的一些營銷失誤實際上是在紀律方面，以及對我們投資地點、投資方式、投資渠道的紀律。我認為，當我們看到交易量疲軟時，有紀律來進行良好的投資，而不是進行良好的投資只是嘗試祈禱和噴灑並希望我們能獲得更高的產量。我認為今年，我給了唐娜很多功勞。我認為她確實給這家公司灌輸了令人難以置信的紀律。

And we're seeing that we get better returns when we're more disciplined around how we spend operationally. And so I think that's a big improvement we made over last year. As Donna keeps saying, we still have a long way to go in the season, and I think we have to continue to stay focused and disciplined. All marketing is to us actually our investments and their investments for return. And so we're trying to get the right customers. We're trying to send the right messages.

我們發現，當我們在運營支出方面更加嚴格時，我們會獲得更好的回報。所以我認為這是我們比去年取得的巨大進步。正如唐娜一直說的那樣，我們這個賽季還有很長的路要走，我認為我們必須繼續保持專注和紀律。所有營銷對我們來說實際上都是我們的投資和他們的投資的回報。因此，我們正在努力吸引合適的客戶。我們正在努力發送正確的信息。

I think the creative side of it, we've been able to use generative AI for some of our creative messaging. I think that's been a great learning experience for us. It happens to also, I think, have been proved productive for us. So I think we'll continue to get better at it. I think we definitely, this year, operationally have taken an incremental step forward in our marketing programs. But I also think we have a long way to go so I think we can continue to get better.

我認為在創意方面，我們已經能夠使用生成式人工智能來傳達一些創意信息。我認為這對我們來說是一次很好的學習經歷。我認為，事實證明它對我們來說也很有成效。所以我認為我們會繼續做得更好。我認為今年我們的營銷計劃在運營上確實向前邁出了一步。但我也認為我們還有很長的路要走，所以我認為我們可以繼續變得更好。

But we definitely are -- I think we've got more discipline. We're investing for a better return. We've got some, I think, better creatives out there. I think our fundamental platform for A/B testing has gotten better. So a lot of sort of incremental improvements that we're seeing greater discipline. And I think it's going to translate, like sort of over time, incrementally better over the next couple of years as well.

但我們確實是——我認為我們有更多的紀律。我們投資是為了獲得更好的回報。我認為我們有一些更好的創意。我認為我們的 A/B 測試基礎平台已經變得更好了。因此，我們看到了很多漸進式的改進，更加嚴格的紀律。我認為，隨著時間的推移，在接下來的幾年裡，它也會逐漸變得更好。

Great, that's helpful. And I wanted to ask, I know it's tough to answer but a competitor of yours, Connections, launched Career Pathways, which I think is a form of flattery, given the success that you've had in that business. But how does that change, if at all, the competitive dynamic? And then how do you sort of maintain differentiation in the market to districts that you serve?

太好了，很有幫助。我想問，我知道這很難回答，但你的競爭對手 Connections 推出了職業路徑，考慮到你在該行業取得的成功，我認為這是一種奉承。但這會如何改變競爭動態（如果有的話）？那麼您如何保持您所服務地區的市場差異化呢？

Yes. I think, listen, at least for as long as I've been with the company, I don't think it's any secret. I hope it's not any secret that Connections has been a very, I think, strong player in the marketplace. I think they tend to be sort of a fast follower. I think that strategy has really actually played well for them. They've been able to avoid maybe some of the mistakes that we make as a little bit more of the pioneer. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they're doing in the marketplace.

是的。我想，聽著，至少在我在公司工作的時間裡，我不認為這是什麼秘密。我希望 Connections 一直是市場上非常強大的參與者，這已不是什麼秘密。我認為他們往往是快速追隨者。我認為這個策略對他們來說確實起到了很好的作用。他們或許能夠避免我們作為先驅者所犯的一些錯誤。我非常尊重他們在市場上所做的事情。

And I think this marketplace has opportunity for both of us. I think it's a growing marketplace. I think them being in the market with us helps us be better. But I think there's a lot of other players besides Connections as well, so I think that just the marketplace really has grown and blossomed and evolved. But I think Connections is good for the marketplace and as well as all the other competitors out there, and I think there's a lot of them. And so we're excited for what Connections is doing. We're excited for the fact that Connections is following us and taking -- is following our lead in many aspects. It validates what we're doing, I think, in many aspects. And I think the market is big enough and rich enough for all of us.

我認為這個市場對我們雙方來說都有機會。我認為這是一個不斷增長的市場。我認為他們與我們一起進入市場有助於我們變得更好。但我認為除了 Connections 之外還有很多其他參與者，所以我認為市場確實已經成長、繁榮和發展。但我認為 Connections 對市場和所有其他競爭對手都有好處，而且我認為這樣的競爭對手有很多。因此，我們對 Connections 所做的事情感到興奮。我們很高興 Connections 正在追隨我們並在許多方面追隨我們的領先地位。我認為，它在很多方面驗證了我們正在做的事情。我認為這個市場對我們所有人來說足夠大、足夠豐富。

Great. And I'll just slip one more in. And maybe if you can give us an update on staffing capacity heading into the year. And then last year, you sort of gave us some color on wages there. I don't know if it's too early to do that as well.

偉大的。我會再插入一個。也許您能給我們提供今年人員配置的最新信息。去年，您給了我們一些有關那里工資的信息。我不知道現在這樣做是否為時過早。

Yes. No, I think staffing has been, I think, in the industry a struggle. I think you continue to hear about staffing shortages, teacher shortages, school districts are still struggling. I think with that, I think we're a little bit better positioned. I think we have, over the past couple of years, continued to be a little bit better positioned. We tend to find that we are now increasingly an alternative for teachers who may want to stay in the profession, but maybe a little frustrated with sort of the dynamics of where they are.

是的。不，我認為在這個行業中，人員配備一直是一場鬥爭。我想你會繼續聽到有關人員短缺、教師短缺、學區仍在苦苦掙扎的消息。我認為這樣一來，我們的處境就更好了。我認為，在過去的幾年裡，我們的定位繼續變得更好。我們往往會發現，對於那些可能想留在這個行業，但可能對自己所處的動態感到有點沮喪的教師來說，我們現在越來越成為他們的選擇。

So I think it can be a competitive long-term advantage for us. And I think that what we offer teachers, I think, is pretty compelling. They get to have a degree of opportunity, innovation. They get to participate in a lot of things. We have teachers also that have incredible career trajectories with us. We have teachers that are allowed to focus on the things that are meaningful to them and not get distracted with other issues with us.

所以我認為這對我們來說可以成為一個長期競爭優勢。我認為我們為教師提供的服務非常引人注目。他們獲得一定程度的機會和創新。他們可以參與很多事情。我們的老師也有著令人難以置信的職業軌跡。我們的老師可以專注於對他們有意義的事情，而不會因我們的其他問題而分心。

So I think we offer a real competitive advantage in the teacher marketplace. And I think it's a sustained advantage that we're going to be able to have. As we introduce more tools, generative AI tools for teachers, I think it will continue -- we see a lot of variability in the market around how districts are embracing generative AI. And I think that variability plays to our advantage because we will embrace it for our teachers. So I'm pretty bullish about the teacher marketplace for us and where we sit with teachers.

所以我認為我們在教師市場上提供了真正的競爭優勢。我認為這是我們能夠擁有的持續優勢。隨著我們為教師引入更多工具，即生成式人工智能工具，我認為這種情況將會繼續下去——我們看到市場上各地區如何擁抱生成式人工智能存在很大差異。我認為可變性對我們有利，因為我們會為我們的老師接受它。因此，我非常看好我們的教師市場以及我們與教師的關係。

And to answer your question about the wages, and so as you know, we saw a big increase in our wages last year in line with inflation, which we were largely able to mitigate by some efficiency efforts that we put forth. We think we'll still see some increases in wages this year, certainly not to the extent that we did last year. And we'll continue to deploy efficiency efforts to mitigate the impact of those increases.

回答你關於工資的問題，正如你所知，去年我們的工資隨著通貨膨脹而大幅增加，我們在很大程度上能夠通過我們提出的一些效率努力來緩解通貨膨脹。我們認為今年工資仍會有所上漲，但肯定不會達到去年的程度。我們將繼續採取提高效率的措施，以減輕這些增長的影響。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question comes from the line of Stephen Sheldon with William Blair.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自斯蒂芬·謝爾頓和威廉·布萊爾的對話。

Nice work to end the year, and I appreciate the early enrollment commentary. It's very helpful. I guess more qualitatively, what have you seen in terms of enrollment demand heading into the fall, specifically for Career Learning programs? And I'd also be curious if you've seen anything notable over the last year or so about the verticals that students are pursuing within those programs. For example, are some paths like IT or health care way more frequently being pursued than others? Just curious what you're seeing there.

年底的工作做得很好，我很欣賞早期的招生評論。這非常有幫助。我想從更定性的角度來看，您在秋季入學需求方面看到了什麼，特別是職業學習項目？我也很好奇，在過去一年左右的時間裡，您是否看到了有關學生在這些項目中追求的垂直領域的任何值得注意的事情。例如，IT 或醫療保健等某些路徑是否比其他路徑更頻繁地被追求？只是好奇你在那裡看到了什麼。

Yes. So I think qualitatively, we continue to see great demand for our career programs. There's a lot of interest. I think that the theme of -- that is, I think being [assessed] by a lot of corporates now that college degrees are not necessarily required. Skills are what's required for a lot of jobs, a lot of high-paying jobs, a lot of what -- formally, I think we thought it was more white-collar jobs. I think that theme is resonating and increasingly.

是的。因此，我認為從質量上來說，我們繼續看到對我們的職業計劃的巨大需求。有很多興趣。我認為這個主題——也就是說，我認為現在很多公司都在[評估]大學學位不是必需的。技能是很多工作、很多高薪工作、很多工作所需要的——從形式上來說，我認為我們認為更多的是白領工作。我認為這個主題正在引起共鳴，並且日益引起共鳴。

We do continue to see a lot of strength in the health care field, particularly within our adult businesses. I do think that the technology fields are seeing some softening. I think if you look sort of at traffic statistics and things like that and Google Analytics stuff around search terms, you're starting to see softening in some of the sort of technology-related fields. I think that's industry-wide. I think that we are holding up probably better than many in the space, but I think we are seeing some softening.

我們確實繼續看到醫療保健領域的強大實力，特別是在我們的成人業務中。我確實認為技術領域正在出現一些軟化。我認為如果你看看流量統計數據和類似的東西以及谷歌分析圍繞搜索詞的東西，你就會開始看到一些與技術相關的領域的軟化。我認為這是整個行業的情況。我認為我們的表現可能比該領域的許多公司都要好，但我認為我們正在看到一些軟化。

I don't think that really -- it's so small to our overall business that I don't think it really will impact us much long term. But we certainly -- I think the industry as a whole and on the -- particularly on the adult certification bootcamp type side is probably seeing a little bit of softness. But we've got 2 of the premier assets there. They continue to perform well. We're still bullish about their ability to perform and I'd say bullish to outperform the overall market.

我不認為這真的——它對我們的整體業務來說太小了，我認為它不會對我們產生太大的長期影響。但我們當然——我認為整個行業——尤其是成人認證訓練營類型方面可能會看到一點疲軟。但我們在那裡擁有兩項最重要的資產。他們繼續表現出色。我們仍然看好他們的表現能力，並且看好他們跑贏整體市場。

Got it. That's very helpful. And then James, I think you've been optimistic about more states potentially opening up to allow virtual alternatives and choice in K-12. So it'd be great to get an update on that front. And if you still think there could be more states that open up to Stride's solutions over the next few years as we look out.

知道了。這非常有幫助。然後，詹姆斯，我認為您對更多州可能開放並允許 K-12 中的虛擬替代方案和選擇持樂觀態度。因此，如果能獲得這方面的最新消息就太好了。如果您仍然認為未來幾年可能會有更多州對 Stride 的解決方案開放，我們拭目以待。

Yes, for sure. And I think the way that our thinking has evolved on the state question, I think, is very positive for us, meaning it used to be that our ability to enter a state was somewhat one- or two-dimensional. And I think that now the ability for us to look at states in a more multidimensional way over the next couple of years is going to bear some fruit. That could be in a unique district partnership that we haven't deployed before. Definitely, we see a lot more state demand. That state demand is materializing in sort of some different ways, though. And so I think we're going to be able to take advantage of that. So I am bullish that over the next few years, we will open up in more states.

是肯定的。我認為我們在國家問題上的思維演變方式對我們來說是非常積極的，這意味著我們進入一個國家的能力在某種程度上是一維或二維的。我認為，現在我們能夠在未來幾年以更加多維的方式看待國家，將會取得一些成果。這可能是我們以前從未部署過的獨特地區合作夥伴關係。當然，我們看到了更多的國家需求。不過，國家的需求正在以某種不同的方式實現。所以我認為我們將能夠利用這一點。因此，我看好未來幾年我們將在更多州開放。

Great. And then, Donna, I just wanted to ask one question on the initial fiscal 2024 comments. I think you said you expect SG&A and CapEx to increase slightly. So I just want to clarify on that comment. Is that more about absolute dollars increasing slightly or more about looking at those as a percentage of revenue?

偉大的。然後，唐娜，我只想問一個關於 2024 財年初步意見的問題。我想您說過您預計 SG&A 和資本支出將略有增加。所以我只想澄清一下這個評論。這更多是關於絕對美元略有增加還是更多關於將其視為收入的百分比？

Absolute dollars.

絕對美元。

(Operator Instructions) There are no further questions. This does conclude today's conference call. Thank you very much for joining. You may now disconnect.

（操作員說明）沒有其他問題。今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的加入。您現在可以斷開連接。