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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowProfits at ITT Educational Services Inc. soared nearly 53 percent in its second quarter, crushing the expectations of Wall Street analysts.
The Carmel-based education company raised its year-end profit forecast by as much as 60 cents per share to a range of $7.55 to $7.85, confident that rampant joblessness will keep driving Americans back to its schools for new skills training.
For the three months ended June 30, ITT Educational earned $71.9 million, or $1.87 per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial network expected earnings of $1.73 per share.
A year ago, ITT Educational earned $47.1 million, or $1.20 per share.
Profit rose with new student enrollment, which spiked nearly 34 percent compared with the second quarter of 2008. ITT Educational signed up 19,692 new students in the most recent quarter and now has a total student body of 69,127, up 26 percent from the same time a year ago.
“Interest in our programs across all six schools of study was incredibly strong during the second quarter of 2009, which led to an impressive increase in new student enrollment compared to the prior year,” said CEO Kevin Modany in a statement. “As we entered the third quarter of 2009, inquiries from prospective students for our high-quality, career-based programs of study remained robust, and we believe that the economic conditions that are stimulating this extraordinary demand may persist throughout the remainder of 2009.”
Second-quarter revenue surged nearly 29 percent, to $317.1 million. But ITT Educational made far better use of the money than a year ago. Its profit margin from operations rose to 37 percent, up from 31 percent in the second quarter last year.
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