ITT Educational Services Beats Expectations But Takes A Step Back Anyway

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

ITT Educational Services (NYS: ESI) reported earnings on Oct. 25. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Sep. 30 (Q3), ITT Educational Services met expectations on revenues and beat expectations on earnings per share.

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


Margins dropped across the board.

Revenue details
 ITT Educational Services logged revenue of $314.7 million. The 14 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ anticipated sales of $317.1 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 13% lower than the prior-year quarter's $360.6 million.

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 $1.83. The 16 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ forecast $1.76 per share. GAAP EPS of $1.83 for Q3 were 26% lower than the prior-year quarter's $2.48 per share.

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 57.4%, 340 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 22.5%, 800 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 13.6%, 510 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $315.8 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $1.92.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $1.30 billion. The average EPS estimate is $8.10.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a two-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 337 members out of 409 rating the stock outperform, and 72 members rating it underperform. Among 112 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 85 give ITT Educational Services a green thumbs-up, and 27 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on ITT Educational Services is hold, with an average price target of $51.54.

The article ITT Educational Services Beats Expectations But Takes A Step Back Anyway originally appeared on Fool.com.

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 has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. 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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