Dive Brief:
- Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Spencer Jakab says that Apollo Education Group's University of Phoenix won't continue to rise from the ashes despite a recent rally.
- In March 2013, the company's shares sold for $16, down from $90 in 2009, but a recent rally saw them climb to $27.
- Unfortunately for Apollo, that uptick probably won't last, as its most recent quarterly report showed an 18% decline in enrollment year-on-year and a 22% drop in newly enrolled students for the final quarter of fiscal 2013.
Dive Insight:
Despite enrolling 28 times the students that The University of Michigan took in during fiscal 2013, Jakab says Apollo will have to work harder to keep its total enrollment stable at 270,000 — but can it return to its 2010 peak enrollment numbers of 371,000? Jakab doesn't think so, as he expects a similar story to continue unfolding when Apollo discusses its Q1 earnings this afternoon. It's not a good market for for-profit education in general, and mounting regulatory pressure isn't likely to improve that situation.