American Public Education Outruns Estimates Again

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

American Public Education (NAS: APEI) reported earnings on Tuesday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Dec. 31 (Q4), American Public Education beat expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue expanded significantly, and GAAP earnings per share increased significantly.

Gross margins improved, operating margins dropped, and net margins grew.

Revenue details
American Public Education reported revenue of $75.7 million. The 12 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted a top line of $72.9 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 34% higher than the prior-year quarter's $56.3 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
EPS came in at $0.71. The 12 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated $0.60 per share. GAAP EPS of $0.71 for Q4 were 37% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.52 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 65.4%, 170 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 26.2%, 190 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 17.2%, 10 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $74.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.54.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $317.1 million. The average EPS estimate is $2.45.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 250 members rating the stock outperform, and 12 members rating it underperform. Among 108 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 105 give American Public Education a green thumbs-up, and three give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on American Public Education is outperform, with an average price target of $45.89.

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At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool owns shares of American Public Education. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of American Public Education. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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