By
Matt Koppenheffer
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February 23, 2011
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Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of for-profit educator Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq: LOPE ) were getting a lesson in what happens when you miss estimates: They fell as much as 15% after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings.
So what: After the close yesterday, Grand Canyon released results for its fourth quarter. Revenue clocked in at $100 million, a 29% jump from the prior year but short of the $105 million that Wall Street was expecting. Earnings per share -- after adjusting for one-time costs -- were $0.29, also lagging Wall Street's estimates.
Now what: The year ahead doesn't look particularly rosy, either. After revenue growth of 47% for all of 2010, the company sees 2011 revenue growth slowing to 10% to 15% for the first half of the year and 13% to 18% for the second half of the year. Grand Canyon isn't alone in feeling pressure in the for-profit education sector as government scrutiny, slowing admissions, and investor skepticism have hung a cloud over competitors such as DeVry (NYSE: DV ) , Strayer (Nasdaq: STRA ) , and Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO ) . The pessimism, however, has attracted some investors to start sniffing around the sector for bargains.
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