Strategic Education Inc (STRA) 2025 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Strategic Education's third-quarter 2025 results conference call. I will now turn the call over to Terese Wilke, Senior Director of Investor Relations for Strategic Education.

歡迎參加策略教育2025年第三季業績電話會議。現在我將把電話交給策略教育投資者關係高級總監特蕾絲·威爾克。

Mrs. Wilke, please go ahead.

威爾克夫人，請繼續。

Thank you. Hello, everyone, and welcome to Strategic Education's conference call in which we will discuss third 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. Following today's remarks, we will open the call for questions.

謝謝。大家好，歡迎參加策略教育電話會議，我們將在會上討論2025年第三季業績。今天與我們在一起的有董事長羅伯特·西爾伯曼；總裁兼首席執行官卡爾·麥克唐納；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務官丹尼爾·傑克遜。在今天的演講之後，我們將開放提問環節。

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.

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案》安全港條款所作的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明是基於目前的預期，並受到戰略教育在今天的新聞稿中指出的許多假設、不確定性和風險的影響，這些因素可能導致實際結果與預期有重大差異。

Further information about these and other relevant uncertainties may be found in Strategic Education's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, 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.

有關這些及其他相關不確定性的更多信息，請參閱 Strategic Education 最新的 10-K 表格年度報告、即將提交的 10-Q 表格以及向美國證券交易委員會提交的其他文件，以及 Strategic Education 未來的 8-K 表格、10-Q 表格和 10-K 表格。這些文件的副本和完整的新聞稿可在 strategiceducation.com 網站上查看。

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

現在我想把電話交給卡爾。卡爾，請繼續。

Thank you, Terese, and good morning, everyone. We are pleased with our third quarter results, especially the sustained strength in our Education Technology and Services segment, supported by strong growth at Sophia and Workforce Edge.

謝謝你，特蕾絲，大家早安。我們對第三季的業績感到滿意，特別是教育科技和服務部門的持續強勁表現，這得益於 Sophia 和 Workforce Edge 的強勁成長。

On an adjusted constant currency basis, SEI's revenue rose 5% from the previous year. We continue to advance our efforts to leverage technology, resulting in operating expense growth of less than 1%, operating income growth of 39% and a 400 basis points margin expansion. We did incur restructuring costs in the third quarter related to our ongoing productivity initiatives, which accounted for most of the difference between our GAAP and our adjusted results in the third quarter. Adjusted earnings were $1.64 compared to $1.16 from the prior year, an increase of 41%.

以調整後的固定匯率計算，SEI 的營收比上年成長了 5%。我們持續推進技術應用，使得營運費用成長不到 1%，營運收入成長 39%，利潤率提升 400 個基點。第三季度，我們因持續推進生產力提升計畫而產生了重組成本，這造成了第三季GAAP業績與調整後業績之間的大部分差異。調整後的收益為 1.64 美元，而上年同期為 1.16 美元，成長了 41%。

Turning now to our segments. Our Education Technology Services division generated continued strong growth during the quarter with revenue and operating income increasing by 46% and 48% from the prior year to $38 million and $16 million, respectively. And notwithstanding our continued strong investment in ETS, which included a 44% increase in expenses, ETS' operating margin increased slightly on a year-over-year basis to 41.7%.

現在進入我們的節目環節。本季度，我們的教育科技服務部門持續保持強勁成長，營收和營業利潤分別比上年增長了 46% 和 48%，達到 3,800 萬美元和 1,600 萬美元。儘管我們對 ETS 進行了持續的大力投資，包括支出增加了 44%，但 ETS 的營業利潤率同比略有上升，達到 41.7%。

Sophia Learning, our direct-to-consumer portal that offers high-quality college-level courses and has increasingly become a key component of many of our strategic corporate partnerships, grew both average and total subscribers and revenue by 42%, driven by strong growth in both consumer and employer-affiliated subscribers.

Sophia Learning 是我們面向消費者的直接入口網站，提供高品質的大學程度課程，並且日益成為我們許多策略企業合作夥伴關係的關鍵組成部分。在消費者和雇主關聯用戶的強勁成長推動下，Sophia Learning 的平均用戶數、總用戶數和收入均成長了 42%。

ETS' share of SEI's operating income continues to grow and now represents one-third of consolidated operating income, reflecting progress with our employer-focused strategy. US Higher Education total enrollment decreased slightly from the prior year, but was more than offset by higher revenue per student driven by fewer drops, less discounting and students taking more courses on average. This resulted in revenue growth of 3% from the prior year.

ETS 在 SEI 的營業收入中所佔份額持續成長，目前已佔合併營業收入的三分之一，這反映了我們以雇主為中心的策略取得了進展。美國高等教育總入學人數較上年略有下降，但由於退學人數減少、折扣減少以及學生平均選修課程增多，每位學生的收入增加，抵消了入學人數下降的影響。這使得公司營收比上年成長了3%。

Employer-affiliated enrollment once again remained strong, increasing approximately 8% from the prior year and now represents 33% of all US Higher Education enrollment, an increase of 290 basis points from the prior year. In addition to the strength in our employer affiliate enrollment, US Higher Education's health care portfolio generated strong total enrollment growth of 7% from the prior year. Health care is a critical part of our portfolio, representing half of all US Higher Education enrollments and almost 40% of enrollment from employer partners.

雇主相關入學人數再次保持強勁，比前一年增長了約 8%，目前占美國高等教育入學總人數的 33%，比前一年增長了 290 個基點。除了雇主附屬機構招生人數的強勁增長外，美國高等教育的醫療保健業務也實現了強勁的總招生人數增長，比上一年增長了 7%。醫療保健是我們投資組合的重要組成部分，占美國高等教育入學人數的一半，以及來自雇主合作夥伴入學人數的近 40%。

Recently, we commissioned a survey in partnership with The Harris Poll, which highlights the ongoing burnout facing the health care workforce and the projected shortfall of clinical health care workers. This research emphasizes the importance of investing in employees' growth and making continuous education a key part of strategies to retain talent. Full survey results can be found on our website at strategiceducation.com.

最近，我們與哈里斯民意調查公司合作委託進行了一項調查，該調查突顯了醫療保健工作者面臨的持續倦怠以及臨床醫療保健工作者預計短缺的問題。這項研究強調了投資員工成長的重要性，並將持續教育作為留住人才策略的關鍵組成部分。完整的調查結果可在我們的網站 strategiceducation.com 上找到。

US Higher Education operating expenses decreased by $6 million from the prior year or a reduction of 3%. As a result, US Higher Education operating income almost doubled from the prior year to $23 million, and its operating margin increased 520 basis points.

美國高等教育營運支出比前一年減少了 600 萬美元，降幅為 3%。因此，美國高等教育的營業收入比前一年幾乎翻了一番，達到 2,300 萬美元，營業利潤率提高了 520 個基點。

Turning now to our Australia and New Zealand segment. ANZ's third quarter total enrollment decreased 2% from the prior year, driven by the continued regulatory restrictions on international student enrollment. Using constant currency, revenue decreased 2% to $70 million and operating income decreased from $15 million in the prior year to $13 million this year.

現在讓我們來看看澳洲和紐西蘭的情況。受國際學生入學持續受到監管限制的影響，澳新銀行第三季總入學人數比去年同期下降了 2%。以固定匯率計算，營收下降 2% 至 7,000 萬美元，營業收入從上年的 1,500 萬美元下降至今年的 1,300 萬美元。

Notwithstanding the decline in total international enrollment, we are encouraged by the continued progress with domestic enrollment growth and recent guidance from the Australian government that our international caps will increase 3% in 2026.

儘管國際學生總入學人數有所下降，但我們對國內學生入學人數持續增長以及澳洲政府最近發布的指導意見感到鼓舞，即我們的國際學生人數上限將在 2026 年增加 3%。

Finally, regarding capital allocation, in addition to our regular quarterly dividend, we repurchased approximately 429,000 shares during the quarter for a total of $34 million. As of the end of the third quarter, we have repurchased over 1.1 million shares for $94 million, leaving us with $134 million remaining on our share repurchase authorization through the end of this year.

最後，關於資本配置，除了我們常規的季度股息外，我們在本季回購了約 429,000 股股票，總計 3,400 萬美元。截至第三季末，我們已回購超過 110 萬股股票，總額達 9,400 萬美元，截至今年底，我們的股票回購授權額度還剩 1.34 億美元。

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

最後，一如既往，我想藉此機會感謝SEI的所有同事，感謝他們一直以來對我們的學生和雇主合作夥伴的投入和支持。

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

那麼，舒，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Jasper Bibb with Truist Securities.

（操作說明）賈斯珀·比布，來自 Truist Securities。

I wanted to ask two on US to start. I guess, first, what drove the healthy revenue per student gain in the quarter? And what should we expect on a revenue per student basis over the next few quarters? And then second, a lot better margin than we anticipated in the US, too. Just hoping to get a bit more detail on the expense reductions there.

我想先問問我們這邊的兩個人。首先，是什麼因素推動了本季每位學生收入的健康成長？那麼，未來幾個季度，我們應該預期每位學生的收入是多少？其次，在美國的利潤率也比我們預期的好得多。希望能了解更多關於費用削減的細節。

Jasper, it's Dan. On the revenue per student, Karl mentioned lower drops and higher seats per student. It was also some lower discounts, and I think we'll see some benefit from that through the balance of the year. So there'll be some upside on revenue per student at US Higher Ed.

賈斯珀，我是丹。關於每位學生的收入，卡爾提到了學生流失率降低和每位學生的學位數量增加。折扣力度也略有降低，我認為在今年餘下的時間裡，我們會從中受益。因此，美國高等教育的生均收入會有一些成長空間。

And on margins, Jasper, we've said before, we're in the midst of a pretty aggressive productivity initiative that's designed to essentially remake our entire expense base. We've got -- through technology and artificial intelligence notably, we've got six different categories that touch all parts of the organization. Our expectation is that we'll probably be able to save upwards of $100 million in operating expenses by the end of '27.

至於利潤率，Jasper，我們之前說過，我們正在實施一項相當積極的生產力提升計劃，旨在從根本上重塑我們的整個支出基礎。借助科技和人工智慧，我們已經擁有了六個不同的類別，這些類別涵蓋了組織的各個方面。我們預計到 2027 年底，我們或許能夠節省超過 1 億美元的營運費用。

Okay. No, that's great. Could you maybe frame where you're at on that journey to $100 million in annual operating expenses? And is that only coming out of the US business or that's company-wide?

好的。不，那太好了。能否簡單說明一下，在實現每年1億美元營運支出的目標過程中，你們進展到了什麼階段？而且這種情況僅限於美國業務，還是公司整體狀況？

It's company-wide. In my prepared remarks, I referenced the restructuring that we completed at the end of the second quarter, beginning of the third quarter. On a run rate basis, that equated to probably $30 million of expense reduction. So I'd say there's another $70 million or so over the next 2.5 years. Some of that, we're going to reinvest as growth capital to continue to support the various businesses and some of it will show up as increased margin.

這是公司範圍內的政策。在我的發言稿中，我提到了我們在第二季末、第三季初完成的重組工作。按年計算，這相當於節省了約 3000 萬美元的費用。所以我認為未來兩年​​半還需要大約 7000 萬美元。我們將把其中一部分資金再投資為成長資本，以繼續支持各項業務，而部分資金將轉化為利潤率的提高。

Okay. That's great. For US, could you maybe frame the relative growth rates for Strayer and Capella at this point? And can you talk about how you're managing each of those businesses in the context of trying to get back to mid-single-digit enrollment growth at the segment level? It sounds like you might already be at mid-single digit for Capella and Strayer is declining. Is that accurate?

好的。那太棒了。對我們而言，您能否說明一下目前 Strayer 和 Capella 的相對成長率？您能否談談您是如何管理這些業務的，才能在各個細分市場層面實現個位數中段的招生成長？聽起來 Capella 的人數可能已經降到個位數了，而 Strayer 的人數正在下降。準確嗎？

I'd say that Capella has been stronger. The weakness that we've seen at Strayer is primarily attributable, as it has been in prior cycles, to a reduction in non-affiliated students, but it's also a function of just, frankly, more efficient marketing dollars at Capella. So we don't necessarily -- we're not fixated on spending a set amount at both Strayer and Capella. We tell the US Higher Education management team, solve for whatever is going to result in the overall highest growth for US Higher Education as a division. And over the last 18 months or so, that's been much more effective at Capella. So we've worked to grow Capella at a higher rate of growth than Strayer, and we're seeing that in the performance that's playing out.

我認為卡佩拉更勝一籌。斯特雷耶學院的疲軟表現，正如前幾個招生週期一樣，主要歸因於非附屬學生人數的減少，但坦白說，也是因為卡佩拉大學的營銷資金利用效率更高。所以，我們不一定——我們並不執著於在 Strayer 和 Capella 兩家酒店都消費固定的金額。我們告訴美國高等教育管理團隊，要找到能為美國高等教育部門帶來最高整體成長的解決方案。在過去18個月左右的時間裡，這種方法在卡佩拉的效果要好得多。因此，我們努力使 Capella 的成長速度超過 Strayer，而我們從目前的業績中也看到了這一點。

And then I wanted to ask about Australia/New Zealand, encouraging news on the international student caps. Are you still expecting that business to return to total enrollment growth in 2026?

然後我想問一下澳洲/紐西蘭的情況，關於國際學生名額限制的消息令人鼓舞。你仍然預期該業務在 2026 年能夠恢復到招生總人數成長的狀態嗎？

Total enrollment growth, I would like for it to return in 2026. Definitely new student growth in 2026 when we anniversary the caps. It generally takes four to six quarters of new student growth to overcome any declines you've had over the preceding four to six quarters. So getting to total enrollment growth by the end of '26 would be a little bit of a stretch goal, but I would definitely expect new student growth beginning in the first part of '26.

總入學人數成長，我希望它在 2026 年能夠恢復。2026年，也就是我們取消招生人數上限的周年紀念日，新生人數肯定會增加。通常需要四到六個季度的新生成長才能彌補前四到六個季度出現的任何下滑。因此，到 2026 年底實現總入學人數增長可能是一個比較遠大的目標，但我肯定會預計從 2026 年上半年開始，新生人數就會增長。

Okay. Got it. Maybe I misremembered the comment from the last call. Last one for me. As you see it today, do you think the '26 for the company level would align with the notional framework you outlined a few years ago at the Investor Day?

好的。知道了。也許我記錯了上次通話中的評論。這是我最後一個了。以你目前的看法來看，你認為公司層級的「26」是否與你幾年前在投資人日上概述的概念架構相符？

Yes. We are very anchored on our notional model. Nothing that I see now at either the revenue line or the expense line, which we obviously control, leads me to believe that we won't be able to hit the targets that we laid out at our Investor Day.

是的。我們非常重視我們的概念模型。目前無論是收入還是支出（顯然我們能夠控制），我都沒有看到任何跡象表明我們無法實現我們在投資者日上設定的目標。

(Operator Instructions) Jeff Silber, BMO Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）傑夫·西爾伯，BMO資本市場。

I wanted to start with Australia/New Zealand. I know many folks on the line don't necessarily follow what's going on, on a daily basis. Can you just remind us exactly what has happened, what the changes were compared to what we thought might have happened a few months ago?

我想先從澳洲/紐西蘭開始。我知道很多接線員不一定每天都會注意發生的事情。您能否具體提醒我們一下發生了什麼，與我們幾個月前預想的情況相比，發生了哪些變化？

Well, the change is -- the change from when we bought it is that the Australian government has put in place hard enrollment caps for international students. And in our case, that resulted in a reduction of approximately 30% from what we had when there were no caps. And international students historically at Torrens represented about half of any new student cohort that we had.

嗯，變化在於——自從我們買下它以來，澳洲政府已經對國際學生的入學人數設定了嚴格的上限。就我們而言，這導致我們比沒有上限時減少了約 30%。托倫斯大學的國際學生歷來佔新生總數的一半左右。

The change that we didn't further anticipate that happened at the beginning of this year is the government went further and put much more tighter controls and restrictions on the ability of an international student who already has a Visa and who is already in Australia from transferring to another institution, which frankly was the source of most of the growth that we had at Torrens because it's a very common practice in Australia for universities to charge a pretty significant tuition premium for international students. And we at Torrens effectively have tuition parity between international and domestic students.

今年年初發生的一個我們沒有預料到的變化是，政府進一步加強了對已持有簽證且已在澳洲的國際學生轉學到其他院校的控制和限制。坦白說，這正是托倫斯學院大部分成長的來源，因為在澳大利亞，大學向國際學生收取相當可觀的學費溢價是一種非常普遍的做法。在托倫斯大學，我們實際上實現了國際學生和國內學生學費的平等。

So there was a strong incentive for students to enroll at Torrens because they were going to save a significant amount of money. The change is that we, Torrens, have to essentially vet any transfer student the same way you would as somebody coming in offshore when they're just applying for Visa.

因此，學生們有很強的動力選擇在托倫斯學院就讀，因為他們可以節省一大筆錢。變化在於，我們托倫斯學院必須對任何轉學生進行審查，就像對從海外來美國申請簽證的人進行審查一樣。

So you have to vet things like the amount of finances that they have onshore, you have to vet their ability to return back to their country and their willingness to return back to their country when they're done with the studies. It's a significant headwind. And the product of that headwind is that far fewer students are transferring.

所以你必須核實他們在國內的財務狀況，你必須核實他們是否有能力返回自己的國家，以及他們在完成學業後是否願意返回自己的國家。這是很大的逆風。而這種不利因素導致的結果是，轉學的學生人數大大減少。

But regardless whether it's the offshore students coming in for the first time or the international transfer students, we're going to anniversary these caps mid-'26. We've seen pretty strong domestic new student enrollment growth throughout '25. So when I was answering Jasper's question, I expect that we'll be growing new students in 2026. And hopefully, that will translate into total enrollment growth by the end of '26. But by the time we fully anniversary these restrictions heading into '27, we expect that business to be growing.

但無論是首次入學的海外學生還是國際轉學生，我們都將在 2026 年年中慶祝這些招生名額的周年紀念。2025 年，我們看到國內新生入學人數成長勢頭強勁。所以，當我回答 Jasper 的問題時，我預計我們將在 2026 年招收新生。希望到 2026 年底，這能轉化為入學總人數的成長。但到 2027 年這些限制措施全面實施一週年的時候，我們預期業務將會成長。

Okay. That's really helpful. I appreciate it. Why don't I move back to US Higher Education, and I appreciate you guys calling out your health care exposure. Can you just remind us -- I know there seems to be some concern on the street between what they call pre-licensure and post-licensure programs. Can you just remind us of the exposure in those two boxes?

好的。這真的很有幫助。謝謝。為什麼我不回到美國高等教育領域？感謝你們指出你們在醫療保健方面面臨的風險。您能否提醒我們一下—我知道街頭巷尾似乎對所謂的執照前培訓課程和執照後培訓課程之間存在一些擔憂。可以提醒我們一下這兩個方框的曝光量嗎？

We are not in the pre-licensure field in nursing. We are in the post-licensure with the RN to BSN program, and that's a FlexPath program, which is the largest program at Capella. And we've seen, I'd say, a little softness in that program. They are in the BSN throughout 2025. But we further believe that we're advantaged because that's also our largest program from an employer-affiliated enrollment standpoint. And as I've said in my prepared remarks, that part of our business remains strong.

我們並非從事護理專業的執業前訓練。我們正在進行 RN 到 BSN 的執業後培訓項目，這是一個 FlexPath 項目，也是卡佩拉大學最大的項目。我認為，我們已經看到該節目中存在一些軟弱之處。他們將一直留在 BSN 中，直至 2025 年。但我們更相信，我們具有優勢，因為從雇主參與人數的角度來看，這也是我們最大的項目。正如我在準備好的演講稿中所說，我們業務的這一部分依然強勁。

Okay. Great. And just one more. I know also there's some concern on the government shutdown, specifically those companies that might have exposure to military and veteran students. Can you talk about any potential impact you've seen and what you think the impact might be going forward?

好的。偉大的。再來一個。我知道政府停擺也引起了一些擔憂，特別是那些可能接觸到軍人和退伍軍人學生的公司。您能否談談您目前觀察到的任何潛在影響，以及您認為未來可能產生的影響？

Yes. To my knowledge, we haven't seen any impact. And when I think about our largest clients like CVS Health or Best Buy or Dollar General, they're not really impacted by the government shutdown per se. So as of yet, Jeff, we haven't seen any adverse impact.

是的。據我所知，我們還沒有看到任何影響。而當我想到像 CVS Health、百思買或 Dollar General 這樣我們最大的客戶時，他們其實並沒有受到政府停擺的影響。傑夫，到目前為止，我們還沒有看到任何不利影響。

Jeff, this is Dan. We have very few direct military students. So the exposure there is really insignificant.

傑夫，這是丹。我們直接招收軍事院校學生的人數非常少。所以那裡的風險暴露程度其實微乎其微。

I'm showing no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Karl McDonnell for any closing remarks.

目前隊列中沒有其他問題了。現在我謹將電話交還給卡爾·麥克唐納先生，請他作總結發言。

Thank you, everyone, and we look forward to joining you in February to discuss our fourth quarter and full year results.

謝謝大家，我們期待在二月與大家再次相聚，共同探討我們第四季和全年的業績。

This concludes today's program. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的節目到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線了。