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 Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI) were hopping today, gaining as much as 15% in intraday trading after the company reported first-quarter results.

So what: Enrollment at Bridgepoint -- which runs Ashford University and University of the Rockies -- finished the first quarter at 88,252, up from 65,788 at the end of the first quarter of last year. The increased enrollment helped push revenue up 47% to $229 million. Earnings per share grew even faster, soaring to $0.92 from $0.49 in 2010. Both revenue and earnings per share easily topped analysts' estimates.

Now what: The strong results from Bridgepoint contrast against the struggles at some of its competitors as well as the fears that investors have around the government's scrutiny of the industry. Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq: COCO), for instance, reported its fiscal third-quarter results and revealed that enrollment dropped 22% while net income fell from $40 million last year to $16 million.

Looking ahead, Bridgepoint set a full-year earnings-per-share range of $2.47 to $2.57. That compares very favorably to the current Wall Street estimate of $2.26.

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