Strategic Education Inc (STRA) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Hello and welcome to Strategic Education's first quarter 2025 results conference call. I will now turn the conference over to Terese Wilke, senior director of investor relations for Strategic Education. Ms. Wilke, please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加策略教育 2025 年第一季業績電話會議。現在，我將會議交給策略教育投資者關係資深總監 Terese Wilke。威爾克女士，請繼續。

Thank you. Hello everyone, and welcome to Strategic Education's conference call in which we will discuss first quarter 2025 results. With us today are Robert Silberman, Chairman; Karl McDonnell, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Daniel Jackson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝。大家好，歡迎參加策略教育電話會議，我們將討論 2025 年第一季的業績。今天和我們在一起的有董事長羅伯特·西爾伯曼 (Robert Silberman)；總裁兼首席執行官卡爾·麥克唐納 (Karl McDonnell)；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務官丹尼爾·傑克遜 (Daniel Jackson)。

Following today's remarks, we will open the call for questions. Please note that this call may include forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements are based on current expectations and are subject to a number of assumptions, uncertainties, and risks that strategic education has identified in today's press release that could cause actual results to differ materially.

今天的發言結束後，我們將開始提問。請注意，本次電話會議可能包含根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法》安全港條款所做的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於當前預期，並受戰略教育在今天的新聞稿中確定的若干假設、不確定性和風險的影響，這些假設、不確定性和風險可能導致實際結果大不相同。

Further information about these and other relevant uncertainties may be found in strategic education, most recent annual report on form 10-K, and the 10-Q to be filed and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as Strategic Education's future 8-Ks, 10-Qs, and 10-Ks. Copies of these filings and the full press release are available for viewing on the website at strategiceducation.com.

有關這些和其他相關不確定因素的更多信息，可在戰略教育、最新的 10-K 表年度報告、即將提交給美國證券交易委員會的 10-Q 表和其他文件以及戰略教育未來的 8-K、10-Q 和 10-K 表中找到。這些文件的副本和完整的新聞稿可以在strategiceducation.com網站上查看。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Karl. Karl, please go ahead.

現在我想把電話轉給卡爾。卡爾，請繼續。

Thank you, Terese, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with our first quarter 2025 results reported this morning, which demonstrate the strength of our ETS division and our employer strategy in US higher education. SEI's revenue grew by 5% in the first quarter and our adjusted operating income increased 16%.

謝謝你，特蕾西，大家早安。我們對今天早上報告的 2025 年第一季業績感到滿意，這證明了我們 ETS 部門的實力以及我們在美國高等教育領域的雇主策略。 SEI 第一季的營收成長了 5%，調整後的營業收入成長了 16%。

Our operating margin increased to 13.6%, while adjusted earnings per share grew 16% to $1.29 compared to $1.11 for the same period in 2024. Turning now to our segments. During the first quarter, total enrollment in US higher education slightly increased, driven by continued strong employer-affiliated enrollment, which rose 7% from the previous year, offset by lower unaffiliated enrollment.

我們的營業利潤率增至 13.6%，調整後每股收益成長 16% 至 1.29 美元，而 2024 年同期為 1.11 美元。現在談談我們的部門。第一季度，美國高等教育的總入學人數略有增加，這得益於雇主關聯入學人數持續強勁增長，比上年增長了 7%，但非雇主關聯入學人數的下降抵消了這一增長。

As of the first quarter, the percentage of total US higher education enrollment from our corporate partnerships is now 31%, an increase of 200 basis points from the prior year, marking an all-time high. US higher education revenue grew by 1% and operating income increased by 7% from the previous year.

截至第一季度，我們與企業合作的美國高等教育入學人數佔總入學人數的比例目前為31%，比上年增長了200個基點，創歷史新高。美國高等教育收入比上年成長1%，營業收入成長7%。

Turning now to Australia and New Zealand, we continue to navigate the shifting regulatory environment in Australia. A total enrollment decreased 1% during the quarter, driven by lower international enrollment related to the regulatory changes impacting international students. That enrollment decline was partially offset by growth in our domestic market, consistent with our strategy to shift the bulk of our enrollment growth in the coming years to the domestic market.

現在轉向澳洲和紐西蘭，我們繼續關注澳洲不斷變化的監管環境。本季總入學人數下降了 1%，因為影響國際學生的監管變化導致國際入學人數減少。入學人數的下降被我們國內市場的成長部分抵消，這符合我們未來幾年將大部分入學人數成長轉移到國內市場的策略。

ANZ's revenue increased 6% for the quarter on a constant currency basis primarily driven by pricing. ANZ reported an operating loss of $2.2 million in the first quarter, reflecting a slight improvement from the previous year. As we've noted before, ANZ revenue in the first quarter represents a low point for the year attributed to fewer instructional days during the Australian summer. Conversely, ANZ expenses are incurred more consistently throughout the four quarters of the year.

澳新銀行本季營收以固定匯率計算成長了 6%，主要得益於定價。澳新銀行公佈第一季營業虧損220萬美元，較上年略有改善。正如我們之前所指出的，由於澳洲夏季教學天數減少，澳新銀行第一季的收入是今年的最低點。相反，澳新銀行的支出在一年四個季度中更為持續。

The education technology services segment continued its strong performance in the first quarter, with revenue growing by 45% and operating income increasing 37%. Sophia learning subscriptions, higher employer affiliated enrollment, and revenue from new workforce edge employer partnerships drove this growth. ETS's operating margin in the first quarter was 40.3%, a decline of 240 basis points as we continue to invest in increased marketing and staffing to drive both near term and future growth.

教育科技服務部門第一季延續強勁表現，營收成長45%，營業收入成長37%。索菲亞學習訂閱、更高的雇主附屬註冊率以及來自新勞動力優勢雇主合作夥伴關係的收入推動了這一成長。 ETS 第一季的營業利潤率為 40.3%，下降了 240 個基點，因為我們繼續投資於增加行銷和人員配備，以推動近期和未來的成長。

Sophia Learning, our direct to consumer portal that offers college level classes and serves as a key component of many of our strategic corporate partnerships, grew its average total subscribers by 37% and revenue by 36% as employer relationships increasingly become a larger part of Sophia. During the quarter, Workforce Edge added two additional corporate partners, bringing the total to 78, collectively employing about 3.9 million employees. Enrollments in Workforce Edge to either Strayer or Capella University increased nearly 50% to reaching roughly 2,300 students.

Sophia Learning 是我們直接面向消費者的入口網站，提供大學程度的課程，也是我們許多策略企業合作夥伴關係的重要組成部分。隨著雇主關係日益成為 Sophia 的重要組成部分，該平台的平均總訂閱用戶數量增長了 37%，收入增長了 36%。本季度，Workforce Edge 增加了兩家企業合作夥伴，總數達到 78 家，共僱用約 390 萬名員工。斯特雷耶大學或卡佩拉大學的 Workforce Edge 入學人數增加了近 50%，達到約 2,300 名學生。

In February of this year, we announced that our decade-long relationship with Best Buy, the nation's 16th largest retailer, has expanded into an all-inclusive partnership with Strayer University's Degrees at Work program, enabling all full and part-time employees at Best Buy to earn a degree at no cost to the employee. In addition to expanding the scope of its education benefits, Best Buy will also become a workforce Edge client, further strengthening our relationship with Best Buy as they continue to prioritize the well-being of their employees.

今年 2 月，我們宣布與全美第 16 大零售商百思買長達十年的合作關係已擴展為與斯特雷耶大學工作學位計劃的全方位合作夥伴關係，使百思買的所有全職和兼職員工都可以免費獲得學位。除了擴大教育福利範圍外，百思買還將成為 Workforce Edge 的客戶，進一步加強我們與百思買的關係，因為他們繼續優先考慮員工的福祉。

Finally, concerning capital allocation, in addition to our regular quarterly dividend, we repurchased approximately 390,000 shares of our common stock for a total of $32 million during the quarter, leaving us with $197 million remaining in our share repurchase authorization through the end of this year.

最後，關於資本配置，除了我們的常規季度股息外，我們還在本季回購了約 39 萬股普通股，總計 3,200 萬美元，到今年年底，我們的股票回購授權餘額還剩下 1.97 億美元。

And finally, as always, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of my colleagues here at SCI for their ongoing commitment and support to our students, learners, and employer partners.

最後，一如既往，我想藉此機會感謝 SCI 的所有同事對我們的學生、學習者和雇主合作夥伴的持續承諾和支持。

And with that, Tawanda, we'd be happy to take questions.

塔萬達，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

傑夫·西爾伯（Jeff Silber），BMO 資本市場。

Thank you so much. I want to focus first on US higher education enrollment. We have seen growth slow this past quarter was relatively sluttish on a year over year basis. The other companies in the states seem to be seeing growth slowing but not nearly as dramatically as what you've been posting. I mean, is there anything specific going on changing your marketing matches, any color would be helpful.

太感謝了。我想先關注美國高等教育入學率。我們看到，上個季度的成長速度與去年同期相比相對低迷。美國其他公司的成長似乎也在放緩，但並不像您所說的那麼劇烈。我的意思是，有什麼具體的事情會改變你的行銷配對嗎？任何顏色都會有幫助。

Hey, good morning, Jeff. No, nothing's really changed from a marketing or advertising standpoint.

嘿，早安，傑夫。不，從行銷或廣告的角度來看，實際上沒有任何改變。

I'd say that what we're seeing is part of just the normal cyclicality that at least we have seen over the years with our enrollment. You'll recall that when we were growing, 10% or even above, we thought that that was probably not sustainable over the long term. And you're right, we were relatively flat in the first quarter, but we expect our enrollment to normalize in kind of the mid single digits consistent with the notional plan that we outlined in our investor day.

我想說，我們所看到的只是正常週期性現象的一部分，至少多年來我們在招生過程中已經看到了這種現象。你會記得，當我們的成長速度達到 10% 甚至更高時，我們認為這可能無法長期持續下去。您說得對，我們在第一季的招生情況相對平穩，但我們預計招生人數將恢復正常，達到中等個位數，與我們在投資者日概述的名義計劃一致。

And is there anything that you can do maybe to get to that single digit level a little bit quicker?

有什麼辦法可以更快達到個位數水準嗎？

Well, our corporate partnerships remain very strong, and we suspect that they'll continue to be a source of strength for us as we add partnerships and deepen our relationships and workforce edge, and ultimately we remain confident that the unaffiliated students will return to mid single digit growth as well.

嗯，我們的企業合作夥伴關係仍然非常強大，我們相信，隨著我們增加合作夥伴關係並深化我們的關係和勞動力優勢，它們將繼續成為我們的力量源泉，最終我們仍然相信，非附屬學生也將恢復到中等個位數的增長。

All right, great. I'll let somebody else ask about Australia and New Zealand, but just had a question on ETS. The numbers have been really solid, much better than we had thought. What do you think is driving that? Is it something you're doing? Is it the end market demand? Again, any color would be great.

好的，太好了。我會讓其他人詢問有關澳洲和紐西蘭的問題，但我對 ETS 有一個疑問。這些數字確實很可靠，比我們想像的要好得多。您認為是什麼原因導致這現象的發生？這是你正在做的事情嗎？是終端市場需求嗎？再說一次，任何顏色都可以。

Well, the strength of Sophia is both reflected in the strength of its product. It has a very high net promoter score, so we know that the subscribers there really value the product. We have added, I'd say, pretty sizable incremental marketing investments in Sophia that have a very near term ROI for us.

那麼，索菲亞的實力既體現在其產品的實力上。它的淨推薦值非常高，所以我們知道那裡的訂閱者確實重視該產品。我想說，我們在索菲亞上增加了相當大的增量行銷投資，這些投資在短期內會為我們帶來投資回報。

Workforce Edge. We just have clients that are beginning to mature. So as you heard, we have now 2,300 students in either Stray or Capella. And then our non-workforce edge corporate partnerships, they're doing well also, so it's a combination of all three of those levers and ETFs.

勞動力優勢。我們的客戶剛開始成熟。正如您所聽到的，我們現在在 Stray 和 Capella 共有 2,300 名學生。然後，我們的非勞動力優勢企業合作夥伴關係也做得很好，所以這是所有這三種槓桿和 ETF 的結合。

All right, that's really helpful. Thanks so much.

好的，這確實很有幫助。非常感謝。

Alex Paris, Barrington Research.

巴林頓研究公司的亞歷克斯‧帕里斯 (Alex Paris)。

Thank you and thank you for taking my questions and I will focus my questions on ANZ and, but one last question on US higher education. Any comment about persistence, that's the number you typically give.

謝謝您，也謝謝您回答我的問題，我的問題將集中在澳新銀行，最後一個問題是關於美國高等教育的。關於堅持的任何評論，這就是您通常給出的數字。

Persistence is stable. I'd say it was probably up slightly in the first quarter. We've seen multi-year gains, particularly at Strayer over the last several years, as course success, the percentage of students who successfully complete their courses and earn credit has been near all-time highs. But by and large our persistence rates are pretty stable, Alex.

持續就是穩定。我認為第一季可能會略有上升。我們看到了多年的進步，特別是過去幾年斯特雷耶的課程成功率，成功完成課程並獲得學分的學生比例接近歷史最高水平。但總的來說我們的堅持率相當穩定，亞歷克斯。

Great, thank you. So moving on to Australia and New Zealand, I was a little surprised to see international enrollment down this early in the year. I understand the regulatory changes, I think, going on in Australia, and I didn't think that would really be a factor until the second half as you approach these Caps, I realize they're not caps. It's all having to do with visa approval speeds and that sort of thing, but effective caps, I guess. So I guess it's two parts, please discuss international enrollment, and then maybe a little additional color on the increase in domestic enrollment.

太好了，謝謝。說到澳洲和紐西蘭，我對今年年初國際入學人數下降感到有點驚訝。我認為，我了解澳洲正在發生的監管變化，我並不認為這會成為一個真正的因素，直到下半年當你接近這些上限時，我才意識到它們不是上限。這一切都與簽證批准速度和諸如此類的事情有關，但我想這是有效的上限。所以我想這分為兩部分，請討論一下國際招生情況，然後再稍微補充一下國內招生數量的增加。

Well, taking the latter part of your question first, we have increased our domestic marketing. It's been part of our strategy now for the last really couple of years to focus more on the domestic Australian market, so that's something that we intend to continue this year and beyond. I'd say one change, Alex, with regard to international enrollment that certainly we experienced is that historically one of the biggest drivers of growth for us is not necessarily offshore students coming into Australia on visas for the first time, although we do that. It's students who transfer, so foreign students who have a visa, they're at another institution after 6 months they're able to transfer, and Torrens's historically was a destination that many of these transfer students would select.

嗯，首先回答你問題的後半部分，我們已經增加了國內行銷。過去幾年來，我們一直將重點放在澳洲國內市場，因此我們打算在今年及以後繼續這樣做。亞歷克斯，我想說，關於國際招生，我們確實經歷了一個變化，那就是從歷史上看，我們成長的最大動力之一不一定是首次持簽證進入澳洲的海外學生，儘管我們確實這樣做了。是轉學的學生，也就是說，持有簽證的外國學生，在另一所學校學習 6 個月後就可以轉學，而托倫斯學院歷來是許多轉學學生會選擇的目的地。

The Australian Ministry of Education put into place a new regulation this year in the first quarter that requires all institutions to go through the same verification process for transfer students that we do for offshore students, and there's a list of anywhere from 6 to 12 items that we have to verify on the part of the student and that the Aside from just the administrative burden of that, the net effect is fewer students are transferring as a result, and I'd say that was the primary driver of our decline in the first quarter.

澳洲教育部今年第一季度實施了一項新規定，要求所有機構對轉校學生進行與海外學生相同的驗證程序，其中列出了 6 到 12 項需要我們為學生進行驗證的項目，除了行政負擔之外，其淨效應是轉校的學生數量減少，我認為這是導致我們第一季學生人數下降的主要原因。

Got it. Okay, that makes sense. thank you for that. And then lastly, I'll ask you a question about adjusted OpEx. Adjusted operating expenses were up 2.9% versus revenue growth of 4.6%. So you got some leverage there. That adjusted operating expense number was better than our estimate. And I just wanted to ask about, the incremental spending that we kind of had factored into our model for the first half at ETS and others, is that behind us now behind us ahead of schedule, or did you just kind of pull back on the spending level, spending.

知道了。好的，這很有道理。謝謝你。最後，我想問您一個有關調整後的營運支出的問題。調整後的營運費用上漲 2.9%，而營收成長 4.6%。所以你在這方面有一定的優勢。調整後的營運費用數字比我們的估計好。我只是想問一下，我們在 ETS 和其他機構的上半年模型中考慮到的增量支出，現在是否已經提前完成了，還是只是削減了支出水平。

Hey Alex, it's Dan. We're still on track for what we what we said in the recent past on expense growth for the year. The first quarter was a little bit better, primarily because of some headcount timing, some of it at ETS, but we're still planning to spend and invest the same amount of ETS. It's just going to be a little bit pushed to the last three quarters of the year.

嘿，亞歷克斯，我是丹。我們仍然按照我們最近談到的今年的支出成長計劃進行。第一季的情況稍好一些，主要是因為一些員工人數的調整，其中一些是在 ETS，但我們仍計劃在 ETS 上花費和投資相同金額。只不過它會稍微推遲到今年最後三個季度。

Got you And then the long term model calls for 200 basis points of adjusted operating income improvement, and I realize you don't give guidance for one year at a time, but I think you had kind of alluded to the fact that it would be a good proxy for 2025. We still feel good about adjusted operating margin expansion in 2025, given the slightly lower enrollment numbers than I had previously expected.

明白了。長期模型要求調整後的營業收入提高 200 個基點，我知道您不會一次給出一年的指導，但我認為您暗示了這將是 2025 年的一個很好的代表。考慮到入學人數略低於我先前的預期，我們仍然對 2025 年調整後的營業利潤率擴張感到樂觀。

Yes, Alex, we do. We feel like, I'll be it it's early, it's the first quarter, but yes, we feel confident that our 2025 performance would be in line with our notional model that we outlined at investor Day.

是的，亞歷克斯，我們知道。我們覺得，現在還為時過早，這是第一季度，但是，是的，我們有信心，我們的 2025 年業績將符合我們在投資者日概述的概念模型。

Good to hear. Thank you very much. That's all for me today.

很高興聽到這個消息。非常感謝。我今天就講到這裡。

Thanks Alex.

謝謝亞歷克斯。

Jasper Bibb, Truist Securities.

賈斯柏·比布（Jasper Bibb），Truist Securities。

Hey, good morning, everyone. I'll start with another A&D enrollment question. Could you just frame for us the, I guess, domestic Australian citizen or permanent Australian resident enrollment as percentage of A&D today versus, I guess what part of the enrollment basis international offshore, international transfer students.

嘿，大家早安。我將從另一個 A&D 註冊問題開始。您能否為我們簡單介紹一下，目前澳洲國內公民或澳洲永久居民在 A&D 課程中的入學比例，以及國際離岸學生、國際轉學生在 A&D 課程中的入學比例。

Yeah, so Jasper, historically an average new cohort of students would have been roughly 50% domestic enrollment, 50% international of the half that's international, at least in the recent trends, I'd say at least 2/3 of that would be onshore transfer, maybe even slightly more actually.

是的，賈斯珀，從歷史上看，新生平均入學人數大約有 50% 來自國內，50% 來自國際學生，其中一半是國際學生，至少在最近的趨勢中，我認為其中至少有 2/3 是國內轉學，實際上可能還要多一些。

In the first quarter, given that we had growth in the domestic market, a decline in international, the mixed percent shifted obviously more to domestic. That's something that we're working towards. We want more of our enrollment to be from the domestic Australian market. We're working through the verification process for both offshore and onshore transfers and that remains to be seen what will happen this year based on whatever demand there is.

第一季度，由於國內市場成長，國際市場下滑，因此混合百分比明顯更多地轉向國內市場。這正是我們正在努力實現的目標。我們希望有更多的學生來自澳洲國內市場。我們正在對離岸和在岸轉移進行驗證，但今年將根據需求情況如何還有待觀察。

Thanks. And then the ETS revenue growth accelerated nicely this quarter. I think on the 4Q call you talked about the launch of a large employer partner at the end of last year, to the extent you can you just update us on how that launch is going and. How that might maybe impact your ETFs expectations for the year.

謝謝。本季 ETS 營收成長順利加速。我想您在第四季度電話會議上談到了去年年底推出大型雇主合作夥伴，您可以向我們介紹一下推出的進展嗎？這可能會對您今年的 ETF 預期產生什麼影響。

Yeah, the launch has been received well by our clients. We are, I would say we are essentially fully staffed now to serve that higher touch model. One important nuance of that relationship. Which frankly we hope is replicated in future relationships with other clients.

是的，新產品的發布受到了客戶的一致好評。我想說，我們現在基本上已經配備了全部員工來服務這種更高接觸模式。這種關係的一個重要細微差別。坦白說，我們希望未來與其他客戶的關係也能如此。

This particular client has a new requirement for their employees who lack 12 college credits, which frankly we think will be the bulk of new enrollments. The requirement is that they have to go through Sophia first and complete six classes on Sophia before they can matriculate into a degree program, and Again, it's early first quarter servicing this client, but I'd say the demand from that that we see through Sophia is running ahead of what we had modeled or planned internally.

這位特定的客戶對缺少 12 個大學學分的員工提出了新的要求，坦白說，我們認為這將成為新入學學生的大部分。要求是，他們必須先通過 Sophia 並完成 Sophia 上的六門課程，然後才能進入學位課程，再次強調，現在是第一季初為該客戶提供服務，但我想說，我們透過 Sophia 看到的需求已經超出了我們內部建模或計劃的範圍。

Great, last one for me. You already addressed kind of margins versus the notional model, but on revenue I think the notion model called for 4% to 6% revenue growth. You still, I guess, feel confident that 25% revenue was aligned with that, I guess. That's it for me.

太棒了，對我來說這是最後一個了。您已經討論了利潤率與名目模型的關係，但就收入而言，我認為名目模型要求收入增加 4% 至 6%。我想，您仍然相信 25% 的收入與此相符。對我來說就是這樣。

Yes, we are.

是的。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I am showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to call for closing remarks.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，隊列中沒有其他問題了。現在我想將電話轉回，請大家發表結束語。

Thank you, everybody. We look forward to discussing our second quarter results with you in three months' time.

謝謝大家。我們期待三個月後與您討論我們的第二季業績。

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。