Stride Inc (LRN) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Stride, Inc., Q1 FY25 conference call. At this time, I would like to hand the call over to Mr. Tim Casey. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加 Stride, Inc. 2025 財年第一季電話會議。現在，我想將電話轉交給提姆凱西先生。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, and good afternoon. Welcome to Stride's first-quarter earnings call for fiscal year 2025. 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 2025 財年第一季財報電話會議。與我一起參加今天電話會議的是執行長 James Rhyu；和財務長唐娜·布萊克曼。提醒一下，今天的電話會議和網路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.

請注意，今天對我們財務表現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。

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.

除了歷史資訊外，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有重大差異。這些陳述是根據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。

Following our prepared remarks, we'll answer any questions you may have.

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。

Now I'll turn the call over to James. James?

現在我將把電話轉給詹姆斯。詹姆斯？

Thanks, Tim. This year marks the 25th anniversary for K-12, Stride's preeminent brand. In those 25 years, we have served over 3 million families and students. It took us over 15 years to reach the first million and it has taken us just over three years to reach the third. In that time, technologies have advanced, our footprint has grown, and the country has evolved, but one constant has remained, our focus on providing customers choice in education.

謝謝，蒂姆。今年是 Stride 的卓越品牌 K-12 成立 25 週年。25年來，我們服務了超過300萬個家庭和學生。我們花了 15 年多的時間才達到第一個 100 萬，而我們只花了三年多的時間就達到了第三個。在那段時間，技術不斷進步，我們的足跡不斷擴大，國家不斷發展，但有一個不變的事實始終存在：我們專注於為客戶提供教育選擇。

Just as we have choice in most facets of our lives from shopping to entertainment to healthcare and financial services, so too should customers have choice in education. And all the surveys and research I have seen, irrespective of political leaning, supports the customer preference for choice.

正如我們在生活的大多數方面（從購物、娛樂到醫療保健和金融服務）都有選擇一樣，客戶在教育方面也應該有選擇。我所見過的所有調查和研究，無論政治傾向如何，都支持客戶的選擇偏好。

Education should not be a political issue. It should be a customer-focused one. As we prepare for our next 25 years, we are positioning K-12 to continue to lead by delivering tomorrow's education today. And that vision extends beyond the hundreds of thousands of students we currently serve each year. We believe we can deliver meaningful products and services to millions of students and customers each year with the range of initiatives that we are currently in development.

教育不應該是一個政治問題。它應該是以客戶為中心的。在我們為下一個 25 年做準備時，我們將 K-12 定位為透過今天提供明天的教育繼續保持領先地位。這個願景超出了我們目前每年服務的數十萬名學生的範圍。我們相信，透過我們目前正在開發的一系列舉措，我們每年可以為數百萬名學生和客戶提供有意義的產品和服務。

A key element of our evolution is to ensure we stay focused on our customers. And we see the families that have embraced our programs come from a broad range of backgrounds. Why? Well, because what we offer caters to the needs of families instead of forcing them to cater to the rigidity of the program. That's choice.

我們發展的關鍵要素是確保我們始終以客戶為中心。我們看到接受我們計畫的家庭來自廣泛的背景。為什麼？嗯，因為我們提供的服務是為了滿足家庭的需求，而不是強迫他們迎合計劃的僵化。這就是選擇。

Our programs are affordable and accessible. We embrace being career-forward and we are leaning into new technologies and investing in innovation like never before.

我們的項目價格實惠且易於使用。我們擁抱職業發展，並以前所未有的方式傾向於新技術並投資於創新。

Now in our core business, which, as you can see, remains robust and more demand as indicated by our application volumes is accelerating. The issues that we can address for families span a wide range from safety to academics, to mental health, to mobility, to flexibility and on and on and everything in between. It is that range of promise that we offer families that will be a cornerstone for our next 25 years.

現在，正如您所看到的，我們的核心業務仍然強勁，我們的申請量表明需求正在加速成長。我們可以為家庭解決的問題範圍廣泛，從安全到學業、心理健康、流動性、靈活性等等。我們向家庭提供的一系列承諾將成為我們未來 25 年的基石。

Now as you saw in our press release, we announced record enrollments for our first quarter, an 18.5% year-over-year growth and an acceleration in demand from this time last year. Apart from the pandemic year, this is the highest recorded year of gross enrollment growth this company has seen since it became publicly traded over 15 years ago. We have seen continual and rising demand for the services we provide and the support for students this enables.

現在，正如您在我們的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們宣布第一季的註冊人數創歷史新高，年增 18.5%，需求較去年同期加速成長。除大流行年份外，今年是該公司自 15 年前公開交易以來毛入學人數增長最高的一年。我們看到對我們提供的服務以及由此為學生提供的支援的需求持續增長。

In our 25th year, I feel confident saying that we continue to raise the bar for families looking for educational opportunities. We remain as committed as ever to offering tomorrow's education today. Our results for the first quarter demonstrate that more and more families are embracing what we have to offer, and our guidance suggests we are on pace for another record year.

在我們成立 25 週年之際，我可以自信地說，我們將繼續提高尋求教育機會的家庭的門檻。我們一如既往地致力於在今天提供明天的教育。我們第一季的業績表明，越來越多的家庭正在接受我們所提供的服務，我們的指導表明，我們預計將再創歷史新高。

I'll now turn the call over to Donna. Donna?

我現在將電話轉給唐娜。唐娜？

Thanks, James, and good evening, everyone. As James mentioned, the demand we saw this quarter has set us up for another strong year. As with every year, I'm incredibly grateful to all the Stride employees who support the thousands of families who come to our programs. It's an incredible opportunity for us to impact the lives of so many students.

謝謝詹姆斯，大家晚上好。正如詹姆斯所提到的，我們本季看到的需求為我們迎接另一個強勁的一年奠定了基礎。與往年一樣，我非常感謝所有 Stride 員工，他們為參加我們計畫的數千個家庭提供支持。對我們來說，這是一個絕佳的機會來影響眾多學生的生活。

The strength of our enrollments this year gives me confidence that we remain on track to achieve our fiscal 2028 targets. I think our compelling fiscal year '25 guidance further demonstrates that we are well on pace and confirms the continued underlying demand for our offerings.

今年的入學人數讓我相信，我們將繼續實現 2028 財年目標。我認為我們令人信服的 25 財年指引進一步表明我們進展順利，並證實了對我們產品的持續潛在需求。

Turning to our quarterly results. Revenue for the quarter was $551.1 million, up 15% from first quarter of fiscal year '24. Adjusted operating income was $58.4 million, an increase of $43.6 million, or 295% from last year. Diluted earnings per share were $0.94, up $0.83 from last year. Capital expenditures in the quarter were $14.8 million, down $1.3 million from last year.

轉向我們的季度業績。該季度的營收為 5.511 億美元，比 2024 財年第一季成長 15%。調整後營業收入為 5,840 萬美元，比去年增加 4,360 萬美元，即 295%。稀釋後每股收益為 0.94 美元，比去年增加 0.83 美元。本季資本支出為 1,480 萬美元，比去年減少 130 萬美元。

As we discussed last quarter, these results reflect the continued demand for our core offerings. Our total enrollments for the quarter exceeded 222,000, almost 100,000 more than we had prior to the pandemic in FY20.

正如我們上季所討論的，這些結果反映了對我們核心產品的持續需求。我們本季的總註冊人數超過 222,000 人，比 2020 財年大流行之前增加了近 10 萬人。

Families continue to seek out educational opportunities and Stride is filling a need in the market for virtual options. Our execution around marketing, enrollment, and school operations demonstrates our ability to grow enrollments sustainably for the long term. Career learning middle and high school revenue for the quarter was $198.9 million, up more than 30% from last year. Career learning enrollments grew 30.4% to 91,700.

家庭繼續尋求教育機會，而 Stride 正在滿足市場對虛擬選擇的需求。我們在行銷、招生和學校營運方面的執行力表明我們有能力長期可持續地增加入學人數。該季度職業學習初中和高中收入為 1.989 億美元，比去年增長 30% 以上。職業學習入學人數增加了 30.4%，達到 91,700 人。

General education revenue grew 10% to $329.4 million on enrollment growth of 11.3% to 130,900 students. Total revenue for enrollment across both lines of revenue was $2,303, up slightly from last year.

一般教育收入成長 10%，達到 3.294 億美元，入學人數成長 11.3%，達到 130,900 名學生。兩條收入線的註冊總收入為 2,303 美元，比去年略有成長。

As we mentioned in the fourth quarter, the loss of ESSER funding is a headwind to our revenue per enrollment this year. However, this is being offset by a positive funding environment. While we were up this quarter, we expect to see some impacts from the state mix and timing and therefore believe we will finish the year flattish to down slightly in revenue per enrollment.

正如我們在第四季度提到的，ESSER 資金的損失對我們今年的每個入學收入構成了不利影響。然而，積極的融資環境正在抵消這一影響。雖然我們本季度有所增長，但我們預計會看到州結構和時間安排的一些影響，因此相信我們今年的每位入學收入將持平或略有下降。

Adult learning revenue continues to be impacted by the slowdown in our software development products, which we've outlined previously. Revenue for the quarter at $22.8 million was down from last year. Looking at the full year, we think this quarter's adult learning revenue is a good proxy for what we expect for revenue in the upcoming quarters.

成人學習收入持續受到我們先前概述的軟體開發產品放緩的影響。該季度營收為 2,280 萬美元，較去年有所下降。縱觀全年，我們認為本季的成人學習收入可以很好地代表我們對未來幾季收入的預期。

Gross margin for the quarter was 39.2%, up 320 basis points from last year. We continue to see improvements in gross margins as our business scales, and like last year, we managed our teacher hiring well. Total fees contributed to our strong gross margins in the quarter. For the full year, we expect gross margins to improve by 100 to 200 basis points compared to FY24.

該季度毛利率為 39.2%，較去年增長 320 個基點。隨著業務規模的擴大，我們的毛利率繼續不斷提高，而且與去年一樣，我們對教師的招聘管理得很好。總費用為我們本季強勁的毛利率做出了貢獻。就全年而言，我們預計毛利率將比 2024 財年提高 100 至 200 個基點。

Selling, general, and administrative expenses totaled $168.5 million, in line with last year. As I've mentioned before, I think we've done a good job of holding down our administrative costs even as we continue to grow. While we've managed these costs well, we do expect to see some SG&A increase for the full year. Even with this slight increase, we will still generate significant operating leverage out of the business.

銷售、一般和管理費用總計 1.685 億美元，與去年持平。正如我之前提到的，我認為即使我們繼續成長，我們在控制管理成本方面也做得很好。雖然我們很好地管理了這些成本，但我們確實預計全年的銷售管理費用 (SG&A) 將會增加。即使略有增加，我們仍將從業務中產生巨大的營運槓桿。

Stock-based compensation for the quarter was $8.4 million, in line with last year. We expect to see a modest increase in stock-based compensation due to the impact of some long-term performance grants, and therefore, full year stock-based compensation will likely be in the range of $34 million to $39 million.

本季以股票為基礎的薪酬為 840 萬美元，與去年持平。由於一些長期績效補助的影響，我們預計股票薪酬將小幅增長，因此全年股票薪酬可能在 3,400 萬美元至 3,900 萬美元之間。

Adjusted operating income for the quarter was $58.4 million, up almost 300% compared to FY24. Adjusted EBITDA was $83.9 million, up 111%. Diluted earnings per share were $0.94, up $0.83 from last year.

該季度調整後營業收入為 5,840 萬美元，比 2024 財年增長近 300%。調整後 EBITDA 為 8,390 萬美元，成長 111%。稀釋後每股收益為 0.94 美元，比去年增加 0.83 美元。

Our profitability strength was driven by growth and operating margin improvements as we continue to see benefits of scale as we grow. For the full year, we expect depreciation and amortization to increase marginally from last year.

我們的獲利能力是由成長和營業利潤率改善所推動的，隨著我們的發展，我們繼續看到規模效益。就全年而言，我們預計折舊和攤提將比去年小幅增加。

Capital expenditures in the quarter were $14.8 million, down $1.3 million from last year. Free cash flow, defined as cash from operations less CapEx, was negative $156.8 million compared to negative $151.5 million in the prior-year period. Cash flow in the first quarter followed our typical seasonality related to school launch and the onboarding of students.

本季資本支出為 1,480 萬美元，比去年減少 130 萬美元。自由現金流（定義為營運現金減去資本支出）為負 1.568 億美元，而去年同期為負 1.515 億美元。第一季的現金流遵循與學校開辦和學生入學相關的典型季節性。

As with last year, we expect to see positive cash flow for the next three quarters. We finished the quarter with cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $539.4 million.

與去年一樣，我們預計未來三個季度將出現正現金流。本季結束時，我們的現金、現金等價物和有價證券為 5.394 億美元。

Turning to our guidance. For the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, we are forecasting revenue in the range of $560 million to $580 million, adjusted operating income between $115 million and $125 million, and capital expenditures between $13 million and $15 million. For the full year, we expect revenue in the range of $2.225 billion to $2.3 billion, adjusted operating income between $395 million and $425 million, capital expenditures between $60 million and $65 million, and an effective tax rate between 24% and 26%.

轉向我們的指導。對於2025 財年第二季度，我們預計營收將在5.6 億美元至5.8 億美元之間，調整後營業收入將在1.15 億美元至1.25 億美元之間，資本支出將在1300 萬美元至1500 萬美元之間。我們預計全年收入在22.25 億美元至23 億美元之間，調整後營業收入在3.95 億美元至4.25 億美元之間，資本支出在6,000 萬美元至6,500 萬美元之間，有效稅率在24% 至26% 之間。

Thank you for your time today and for your continued support. Now I'll pass the call back to the operator for your questions. Operator?

感謝您今天抽出寶貴的時間以及您一直以來的支持。現在我將把電話轉給接線員詢問您的問題。操作員？

(Operator Instructions) Jason Tilchen, Canaccord Genuity.

（操作員說明）Jason Tilchen，Canaccord Genuity。

I'm curious in terms of the really strong demand that drove the record enrollment in the quarter. If you could maybe shed a little more light on some of the drivers of this momentum. Were there certain use cases or certain states that you saw really strong growth? Was some of this driven by some of the more effective marketing spend? Any color you could share would be greatly appreciated.

我很好奇推動本季創紀錄入學人數的真正強勁需求。如果您可以更多地了解這種勢頭的一些驅動因素。您是否在某些用例或某些狀態中看到了真正強勁的成長？其中一些是由一些更有效的行銷支出推動的嗎？您可以分享的任何顏色將不勝感激。

Yeah, I think it's pretty broad-based. We actually -- I think as Donna mentioned in her remarks, our SG&A was pretty flat year over year, and so the increased demand sort of would imply, all things being equal, lower cost of acquisition profile, which I think from everything we can see at least points to a lot of sort of growth in organic demand.

是的，我認為它的基礎非常廣泛。事實上，我認為正如唐娜在她的演講中提到的那樣，我們的銷售管理費用同比相當持平，因此需求的增加意味著，在所有條件相同的情況下，收購成本較低，我認為從我們所能做到的一切來看至少可以看到有機需求的大量成長。

I think word-of-mouth organic demand, the general word-of-mouth type of virality that we're seeing for our programs has been pretty strong. And so just over the past couple of years, we keep seeing that growing. And I think it's sort of a good indicator that the customer voice for our product is strong and continues to grow.

我認為口碑的有機需求，我們在我們的專案中看到的一般口碑傳播類型的病毒式傳播非常強勁。因此，就在過去的幾年裡，我們不斷看到這種成長。我認為這是一個很好的指標，表明客戶對我們產品的呼聲很強烈並且持續成長。

Great. That's really helpful. And then just one follow-up. I'm curious, in terms of the -- you talked a little bit in the prepared remarks around how school choice is becoming a more bipartisan issue over recent years. I'm curious, as we look at the election coming up in a few weeks, are there any states, or even from a national perspective, anything we should be focusing on in terms of any potential benefits or risks to the company either from a school choice perspective or from a funding perspective?

偉大的。這真的很有幫助。然後只有一個後續行動。我很好奇，您在準備好的演講中談到了近年來學校選擇如何成為兩黨共同關注的問題。我很好奇，當我們關注幾週後即將舉行的選舉時，是否有任何州，甚至從國家的角度來看，我們應該關注哪些方面給公司帶來的潛在利益或風險？的角度？

Listen, I certainly don't want to project what's going to happen in a couple of weeks here with the election. I think that's probably a dangerous thing to do. What I would say is double down on my comment that I don't think education should be a political issue. I think that the customers have spoken that this is a pretty bipartisan type of product.

聽著，我當然不想預測幾週後選舉會發生什麼事。我認為這可能是一件危險的事。我想說的是，我認為教育不應該是政治問題。我認為客戶已經說過這​​是兩黨合作的產品。

We see a lot of demand from people with all different kind of backgrounds. And I just think that our politicians should govern the country and focus on educating everybody. And providing this kind of choice for people who really need it is an important part of the educational system. So hopefully, we can get all of our politicians, irrespective of party, to focus on those things.

我們看到來自不同背景的人們的大量需求。我只是認為我們的政治家應該治理國家並專注於教育每個人。而為真正需要的人提供這種選擇是教育體系的重要組成部分。因此，希望我們能讓所有政客，無論黨派如何，都專注於這些事情。

Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

Jeff Silber，BMO 資本市場。

I wanted to focus on the comments about revenue per student. I know there's been some questioning in terms of the impact of the roll-off of ESSER funding. Can you talk about what the impact of ESSER funding was on your company last year from a revenue perspective, and if possible, from a profit perspective? And how that's impacting your guidance this year?

我想重點關注有關學生人均收入的評論。我知道有人對 ESSER 資金滾存的影響提出了一些質疑。您能否從收入角度（如果可能的話，從利潤角度）談談去年 ESSER 資金對貴公司的影響？這對您今年的指導有何影響？

So I think we've previously discussed that last year the revenue impact was less than 3%. I don't believe we've previously disclosed the exact profit impact of that, although I think it's not -- even if it's in the range of our normal profitability, it's completely immaterial. If it was anything significantly more than that, I think you would have seen a different profile this year than we're giving.

所以我想我們之前已經討論過，去年收入影響不到 3%。我不認為我們之前已經披露了其具體的利潤影響，儘管我認為沒有——即使它在我們正常盈利能力的範圍內，也完全無關緊要。如果事情遠不止於此，我想您今年會看到與我們所提供的不同的形象。

So clearly, it's not out of the range of sort of profit margin that we saw for the overall company last year. And so I'd rather we get everybody looking forward for this company. We've got a tremendous demand profile. Customers are really gravitating to our products and services. And I think we've set ourselves up for a really strong year.

很明顯，這並沒有超出我們去年看到的整個公司的利潤率範圍。所以我希望我們讓每個人都對這家公司充滿期待。我們有龐大的需求概況。客戶確實被我們的產品和服務所吸引。我認為我們已經為非常強勁的一年做好了準備。

Okay. And as long as we're looking forward, can we talk about the impact in the current fiscal year in terms of new schools or schools that were lost? And going forward, are there any major schools at risk that we should be aware of?

好的。只要我們展望未來，我們是否可以談談本財年對新學校或失去學校的影響？展望未來，有哪些主要學校面臨我們應該注意的風險？

Yeah. I mean, I think we've talked before that generally speaking, we see long term, there's going to be an opportunity to add a school or two here or there. We have not lost any significant programs for this year. We're currently unaware of any significant programs that we would use for next year or future years.

是的。我的意思是，我認為我們之前已經談過，一般來說，我們認為從長遠來看，將有機會在這裡或那裡增加一兩所學校。今年我們沒有失去任何重要的項目。我們目前不知道我們將在明年或未來幾年使用任何重要的計劃。

So I think we would consider continuing to add programs. Not all of those programs that we would add would be in new states necessarily. We like the diversity sometimes of having multiple programs serving different customer constituents in the same state, gives us greater flexibility and helps us meet customer demand in those states. So we think we're set up pretty well for meeting future customer demand.

所以我認為我們會考慮繼續增加節目。並非我們要新增的所有項目都一定會位於新的州。有時，我們喜歡在同一州擁有多個為不同客戶群體提供服務的計劃的多樣性，這給我們帶來了更大的靈活性，並幫助我們滿足這些州的客戶需求。因此，我們認為我們已經做好了滿足未來客戶需求的準備。

Gregory Parrish, Morgan Stanley.

格雷戈里·帕里什，摩根士丹利。

Yeah, congrats on the pretty incredible result here. Maybe talk about enrollment a little bit differently than maybe the drivers this year. If you think about kind of retention, what you're doing there, maybe reaching new students, the messaging that you're going to market with, the conversion rates that you have. What really -- what were the biggest drivers this year? I imagine it's a combination, but maybe kind of flesh out really where you're finding success and what's improved versus last year.

是的，恭喜這裡取得了令人難以置信的結果。也許談論招生與今年的車手有些不同。如果你考慮保留率、你在那裡做什麼、可能接觸新學生、你要行銷的資訊、你擁有的轉換率。今年最大的推動因素是什麼？我想這是一個組合，但也許確實可以充實你在哪裡找到了成功以及與去年相比有所改進。

Yeah. I mean, I think -- well, to sort of reiterate, I think that the biggest piece of this equation that is helping drive our business is the demand side. Customer demand has been strong, and everything else, all things you mentioned, retention, conversion, all the other stuff, sure, we're always looking to make those things better. I don't think that they were -- in any one of those things, by the way, were the single driver of our performance this year.

是的。我的意思是，我認為——嗯，重申一下，我認為幫助推動我們業務的最大因素是需求方。客戶需求一直很強勁，其他一切，你提到的所有事情，保留率，轉換率，所有其他東西，當然，我們一直在努力讓這些事情變得更好。順便說一句，我認為他們在任何一件事上都不是我們今年表現的唯一驅動力。

I think it was clearly customers have said that they want this product. And the demand side of this equation has been very strong. It continues to look very strong. We continue to obviously drive as good conversion as we can, retention, all those metrics. But this year wasn't driven by those things. This year was driven by the demand side of the equation.

我認為客戶顯然已經表示他們想要這個產品。這個等式的需求方非常強勁。它看起來仍然非常強大。顯然，我們將繼續盡可能提高轉換率、留存率以及所有這些指標。但今年並不是這些事情所驅動的。今年是由需求方推動的。

And on the margin, I don't think guidance here is up nearly 400 basis points at the midpoint. You're guiding to 11% revenue growth. So I think a lot of this is operating leverage.

就邊際而言，我認為這裡的指導值中點不會上漲近 400 個基點。您的目標是實現 11% 的收入成長。所以我認為這很大程度上是營運槓桿。

But Donna, I guess, maybe if you could help sort of flesh out how much is operating leverage, how much is from efficiencies, if you could kind of contrast the two, if you could.

但是唐娜，我想，也許你可以幫助具體說明營運槓桿有多少，效率有多少，如果你能對兩者進行對比的話，如果可以的話。

Yeah. So on the gross margins, we are expecting 100 to 200 basis point increase in margins. And that's certainly driven by the strong demand that we saw and the leverage that we have in the business. And we expect to continue to see that. And you've heard me talk over the past couple of years about making sure that we continue to see that strong -- to maintain that strong leverage.

是的。因此，就毛利率而言，我們預計利潤率將增加 100 至 200 個基點。這當然是由我們看到的強勁需求和我們在業務中擁有的影響力所推動的。我們預計將繼續看到這種情況。你們在過去幾年裡聽到我談論確保我們繼續保持強勁的勢頭——保持強勁的槓桿作用。

And then on the SG&A side, look, we've talked about being disciplined, right? We talked about how we're able to grow the business this year without adding more marketing spend, without adding more enrollments spend, showing discipline around that without adding some additional headcount. So it's a combination of the flow-through that we see on the top end from a gross margin perspective but also on the SG&A, which is driving the AOI that we've seen.

然後在 SG&A 方面，看，我們已經討論過遵守紀律，對嗎？我們討論了今年如何能夠在不增加更多行銷支出、不增加更多註冊支出的情況下發展業務，在不增加額外員工人數的情況下表現出紀律。因此，它是我們從毛利率角度看到的高端流量和銷售管理費用的組合，這推動了我們所看到的 AOI。

And then a follow-up, my last one. I think this could be helpful for a lot of investors. Maybe talk about why the public financials of some of the non-profit schools that you manage, why those don't necessarily line up with what flows to you? Why there can be differences?

然後是後續，我的最後一個。我認為這對很多投資者來說都是有幫助的。也許可以談談為什麼您管理的一些非營利學校的公共財務狀況不一定與流向您的資金相符？為什麼會有差異？

And then maybe more specifically, why some of those non-profits could take ESSER funding? And why that wouldn't necessarily go to you and what those could be used for? I think that could be helpful here.

然後也許更具體地說，為什麼其中一些非營利組織可以接受 ESSER 資金？為什麼這些不一定會歸您所有？我認為這可能會有所幫助。

Yeah. I'm not going to speak on behalf of all of our clients. I think that's a very irresponsible thing for us to be doing. I'll speak for what we do and how we do it. And I have great respect for how our clients manage what they do and I'd let them speak for themselves.

是的。我不會代表我們所有的客戶發言。我認為我們這樣做是非常不負責任的。我將談談我們所做的事情以及我們如何做。我非常尊重我們的客戶如何管理他們所做的事情，我會讓他們自己說話。

But I think that whatever our clients do, we want to be supportive of their mission and their goals. And indirectly, that means that we're supporting the students that want to be participating in these programs. And so the rest of that stuff, like what our clients are doing, I mean, first of all, we have no providence over that. And so it's not like we have an ability to even always have insight into how they make all those decisions. Those are proprietary to them and I'd rather leave it to them to describe.

但我認為，無論我們的客戶做什麼，我們都希望支持他們的使命和目標。間接地，這意味著我們正在支持想要參加這些計畫的學生。所以剩下的事情，例如我們的客戶正在做的事情，我的意思是，首先，我們對此沒有天意。因此，我們甚至沒有能力始終洞察他們如何做出所有這些決定。這些是他們專有的，我寧願讓他們來描述。

Alex Paris, Barrington Research.

亞歷克斯·帕里斯，巴靈頓研究中心。

Congratulations on the super strong quarter. I'm wondering, in terms of your guidance, Donna, for fiscal 2025, have you embedded in that any expectations for new states or states in which you have caps that may be or will be lifted or raised?

祝賀超強勁的季度。我想知道，唐娜，就您對 2025 財年的指導而言，您是否對新州或可能取消或提高上限的州提出了任何期望？

We have not factored in any new states. We have some increases in some caps that's already factored in into the results that we have in Q1 as well as for the full year. But the overriding factor that is driving our revenue is, as James said, the demand that we're seeing. And so we are able to meet the demand with our ability to execute via our marketing, via our enrollment, but it really is us being able to capture the demand that's in the marketplace.

我們沒有考慮任何新的狀態。我們對一些上限進行了一些增加，這些上限已經計入我們第一季和全年的業績中。但正如詹姆斯所說，推動我們收入成長的最重要因素是我們所看到的需求。因此，我們能夠透過我們的行銷、透過我們的註冊來滿足我們的執行能力，但實際上我們能夠捕捉市場中的需求。

And then looking at the two programs, general education and career learning, I think last fall, you had 91 GE and 56 career learning. Do you anticipate opening up additional career learning programs in existing states in fiscal '25?

然後看看通識教育和職業學習這兩個項目，我想去年秋天，你有 91 個 GE 和 56 個職業學習。您預計在 25 財年在現有各州開設更多職業學習計畫嗎？

We have the same number of programs this year that we did last year in terms of our career learning programs in total.

就職業學習項目總數而言，我們今年的項目數量與去年相同。

Okay. The idea and do you envision opening up additional career learning programs this year or next year?

好的。您的想法是什麼？

Not for this fiscal year. I do think that there is a chance we might open a couple next year.

不適用於本財年。我確實認為明年我們有可能再開幾家。

Got you. And then last question and that's a follow-up on some of the other questions regarding ESSER. How do the ESSER funds come to Stride? It's my understanding that they've largely been used by school districts within your learning solutions business. Is that accurate?

明白你了。最後一個問題是有關 ESSER 的其他一些問題的後續問題。ESSER 資金如何來到 Stride？據我了解，它們主要被學區在您的學習解決方案業務中使用。準確嗎？

Like I said, really it's tough for us to be able to answer how ESSER funds go to all of our partner clients because that's something that they manage, that they're responsible for. What we know is that during the time that ESSER was in place, certainly, there are some of our clients who made the decision to support programs that we provided that were eligible for those funds.

就像我說的，我們確實很難回答 ESSER 資金如何流向我們所有合作夥伴客戶的問題，因為這是他們管理、負責的事情。我們所知道的是，在 ESSER 成立期間，當然有一些客戶決定支持我們提供的有資格獲得這些資金的計劃。

But it's sort of -- I don't know, I would say it's sort of beside the point at this time because for this fiscal year, ESSER is in the rearview mirror and we've got tremendous demand for the business that we're running, and that's with ESSER in the rearview mirror. So I think we've set ourselves up well from here to grow, and that's with all of that in the rearview mirror.

但這有點——我不知道，我想說，目前這有點無關緊要，因為在本財年，艾索已經成為後視鏡，而我們對我們正在開展的業務有巨大的需求。鏡裡就是艾索。所以我認為我們已經做好了從這裡開始成長的準備，所有這些都在後視鏡中。

So I think I want this company to stay focused on this year, which doesn't really have the ESSER benefit in it and moving forward from there.

因此，我認為我希望這家公司繼續專注於今年，因為今年並沒有真正獲得艾索的好處，並從那裡繼續前進。

Not only does it not have the ESSER benefit, it has a little bit of a headwind on a year-over-year basis. You had previously said less than 1.5% of revenue would be the impact in fiscal '25. Is that still a good thought?

它不僅沒有 ESSER 的優勢，而且與去年同期相比還存在一些不利因素。您之前曾說過，25 財年受到的影響將佔收入的不到 1.5%。這仍然是一個好主意嗎？

Yeah. And so yeah, year over year, it would be, as you're defining it, a headwind, correct.

是的。所以，是的，年復一年，正如你所定義的那樣，這將是逆風，正確的。

Got you. But that will be largely offset by state funding increases in mix. So we're expecting flat to slightly down revenue per enrollment for full year, just to clarify?

明白你了。但這將在很大程度上被國家資金組合的增加所抵消。因此，我們預計全年每位註冊學生的收入將持平甚至略有下降，只是為了澄清？

That is correct.

這是正確的。

Great. Thank you both. Congratulations again.

偉大的。謝謝你們倆。再次恭喜。

Tom Singlehurst, Citi.

湯姆辛格赫斯特，花旗銀行。

Congrats on the results. Apologies to ask about ESSER as well, but I'm interested in any second-order impact from reduced ESSER funding. Actually, I'm thinking about this on the positive side. I mean are there programs that would have been handled by school districts or schools internally that now might be outsourced? Any views on that would be very much appreciated. That's my first question.

祝賀結果。很抱歉也詢問有關 ESSER 的問題，但我對 ESSER 資金減少帶來的任何二階影響感興趣。事實上，我是從正面的一面來思考這個問題的。我的意思是，是否有一些原本由學區或學校內部處理但現在可能外包的專案？對此有任何意見將不勝感激。這是我的第一個問題。

Yeah. I don't know that I see any second-order impact of that nature having any material or significant impact on our business for this year. And again, I don't want to guess how district clients out there either have or are using or intend to use any remaining ESSER funds as it pertains to us. So I don't really have a lot comment there.

是的。我不知道我認為這種性質的任何二級影響會對我們今年的業務產生任何實質或重大影響。再次強調，我不想猜測地區客戶如何擁有、正在使用或打算使用與我們相關的任何剩餘 ESSER 資金。所以我對此沒有太多評論。

Perfect. Second question if it's okay is on whether you've seen continued -- or expect to continue to see sort of intra-year enrollment growth. I mean in the last couple of years, we've had a sort of new normal where the 1Q enrollment number's not the high watermark. It happens later in the year. I'm interested in whether you think that might happen again in 2025.

完美的。第二個問題是，您是否看到了持續的或期望繼續看到年內入學人數的增長。我的意思是，在過去的幾年裡，我們出現了一種新常態，第一季的入學人數並不是高水位線。這發生在今年晚些時候。我感興趣的是你認為這種情況是否會在 2025 年再次發生。

Yeah, it's a great question. As I said, we continue to see strong demand. I don't know if it's a new normal yet but it has been two years running, as you said. I can tell you that as of yesterday, I haven't looked yet today, but as of yesterday, we continue to see that strong demand come through. So we are, as of yesterday, higher than we were as of September 30.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。正如我所說，我們繼續看到強勁的需求。我不知道這是否是一種新常態，但正如你所說，這種情況已經連續兩年了。我可以告訴你，截至昨天，我今天還沒有看，但截至昨天，我們繼續看到強勁的需求。因此，截至昨天，我們的水平高於截至 9 月 30 日的水平。

And if the trend continues, yeah, I think we would expect that. But I don't think we're guiding to that and we're not indicating that right just yet. We want some more of this in-year period to mature for us to feel comfortable.

如果這種趨勢持續下去，是的，我想我們會預料到這一點。但我不認為我們正在為此提供指導，而且我們還沒有表明這一點是正確的。我們希望這一年有更多的時間成熟起來，讓我們感到舒適。

We're only three weeks into this in-year period. So I don't know that it's a complete set of information for us to be making those statements yet. But like I said, 21 days in, demand remains strong.

今年的這個時期才剛過三週。所以我不知道我們發表這些聲明是否有完整的資訊。但正如我所說，21 天過去了，需求依然強勁。

Perfect. But the guidance is not based on that [largely].

完美的。但指導意見並非以此為基礎[很大程度]。

The guidance reflects certainly taking into account what's happened in the past two years but also taking into account that we only have two years behind us, right? So with the balance of what's happened over the past two years but not ignoring what's happened over the past 23 years, right? And so it's a balance of it.

該指導方針當然反映了考慮到過去兩年發生的事情，但也考慮到我們只剩下兩年的時間，對吧？因此，平衡過去兩年發生的事情，但不能忽視過去 23 年發生的事情，對吧？所以這是一個平衡。

But to James' point, what we've seen today, there's more upside. And so the full benefit of it may not be taken into account. But again, we're only -- we're still in the month of October, and that number could change. And so there could be some more upside.

但就詹姆斯的觀點而言，我們今天看到的還有更多的好處。因此，它的全部好處可能不會被考慮在內。但同樣，我們只是——我們仍然在十月份，這個數字可能會改變。因此可能還有更多的好處。

But again, we don't know what that trend will look like for the rest of the year. So with three years in, it's not quite yet a trend.

但同樣，我們也不知道今年剩餘時間這種趨勢會是什麼樣子。所以三年過去了，這還不是一種趨勢。

And one very final one, I promise. Any change to the 2028 outlook and guidance on the back of today?

我保證，還有最後一件事。今天，2028 年展望與指引有何變化？

We're not providing any update to the 2028 today.

今天我們不會提供 2028 年的任何更新。

Other than say that we feel confident in our 2028 numbers, as I said in my prepared remarks, and we are reiterating our confidence in our 2028 guidance.

正如我在準備好的演講中所說，我們除了對 2028 年的數字充滿信心之外，我們還重申對 2028 年指導的信心。

(Operator Instructions) Stephen Sheldon, William Blair.

（操作員說明）史蒂芬謝爾頓、威廉布萊爾。

Hi, team. You've got Pat McIlwee on for Sheldon's team today. Just a couple of quick ones here. So you talked about the demand side a few times now, but can you just talk us through what supported the outsized growth in career learning this quarter and if you've made any progress in building out that separate marketing funnel you've talked about in the past there?

大家好。今天謝爾頓隊派出了帕特·麥克伊爾威。這裡只是一些快速的。因此，您現在多次談到了需求方面，但是您能否向我們介紹一下是什麼支持了本季度職業學習的大幅增長，以及您在構建您在中提到的單獨營銷漏斗方面是否取得了任何進展過去在那裡？

Yeah, really good question. So I think the -- I'll take that second part first and then circle back on the first part. Unfortunately, I don't think we've made a lot of progress in building out a separate funnel. So it's something we continue to work on. I think for all the great work that the marketing team has done over the past year or so, that's one area where I think we still haven't cracked the nut, and we continue to look at ways to do that.

是的，真是個好問題。所以我想——我會先討論第二部分，然後再回到第一部分。不幸的是，我認為我們在建立單獨的管道方面並沒有取得很大進展。所以這是我們繼續努力的事情。我認為，儘管行銷團隊在過去一年左右的時間裡做了很多出色的工作，但我認為我們仍然沒有解決這個問題，我們將繼續尋找實現這一目標的方法。

But the first part of your question, you have to remember that pretty much now at this point, most of our high school is basically a career program. And so the growth in career learning is, in some respects, a proxy for the growth in certain grade levels. And so we're seeing a lot of strong demand in those grade levels that support career learning. And I think that, that's been a trend that we've seen for some period of time.

但你問題的第一部分，你必須記住，現在我們高中的大部分基本上都是職業計劃。因此，在某些方面，職業學習的成長可以代表某些年級程度的成長。因此，我們看到支持職業學習的年級有許多強烈的需求。我認為，這是我們一段時間以來看到的趨勢。

And so we're going to continue to support all the grades, but we are seeing a little bit stronger demand in certain grade levels that really cater to the career learning programs that we have.

因此，我們將繼續支持所有年級，但我們發現某些年級的需求更加強勁，這確實滿足了我們現有的職業學習計劃。

And then in tandem to the questions on the elections and career learning program expansion as well, you've previously talked about opening schools and hopefully a handful of new states in '25, '26. Can you just provide any updated thoughts on state expansion targets at this point in time?

然後，在回答有關選舉和職業學習計劃擴展的問題時，您之前談到了開設學校，並希望在 25 年、26 年開設一些新州。您能否及時提供任何有關國家擴張目標的最新想法？

Yeah, listen, any state expansion is a multi-year effort that has a lot of uncertainty to it. We, of course, want to plant flags in every state that we're not currently in as long as it makes sense for the business, right? And there are probably a couple of cases where it actually just doesn't make sense because of whatever the regulatory environment, demand characteristics, whatever.

是的，聽著，任何國家的擴張都是多年的努力，其中存在著許多不確定性。當然，我們希望在我們目前不在的每個州都插上旗幟，只要這對業務有意義，對嗎？在某些情況下，由於監管環境、需求特徵等原因，它實際上是沒有意義的。

But by and large, for most of at least the states that we're not in, we have efforts underway that look to expand into those states. I think as we diversify some of our portfolio, whether it's things like tutoring or other things, we see that there's opportunities to potentially plant flags in those states that may not include just the pure core managed program.

但總的來說，至少對於我們不在的大多數州來說，我們正在努力將業務擴展到這些州。我認為，隨著我們的一些投資組合多樣化，無論是輔導還是其他事情，我們看到有機會在那些可能不只包括純粹的核心管理項目的州樹立旗幟。

And so we're looking to do things in a lot of states that may not just be around the core managed program but may include some other types of products and services that we can provide. Of course, to the extent that we can break down and get into these states that don't have the sort of the full-time online programs, we're trying to do that as well. But like I said, no new news to report for this fiscal year. We are cautiously optimistic that over the next couple of few years, we will be able to make some progress on some new states.

因此，我們希望在許多州做一些事情，這些事情可能不僅僅圍繞著核心管理計劃，還可能包括我們可以提供的一些其他類型的產品和服務。當然，在某種程度上，我們可以打破並進入這些沒有全日制線上課程的州，我們也在努力這樣做。但正如我所說，本財年沒有新消息可報道。我們謹慎樂觀地認為，在接下來的幾年裡，我們將能夠在一些新的州取得一些進展。

And at this time, there are no further questions. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you, all, for your participation. You may now disconnect.

而此時，已經沒有其他問題了。我們今天的會議到此結束。謝謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。