COCO Announces New “Private Loan” Facility, And We Use That Term Loosely This morning, COCO announced a new “private loan” facility with ASFG LLC, presumably a subsidiary of American Student...
READ MORE >Approximately 12-weeks ago, we introduced OPEN as a short idea. You can read our original 40-page report by clicking here. The principal elements of our short thesis are as follows: 1. OPEN’s electronic reservation booking system...
READ MORE >Approximately 6-months ago we introduced a pair trade – Long KNL/Short MLHR. Thus far the trade has returned approximately 11.8% compared to a 2.2% gain for the S&P 500. In our original report, we established the...
READ MORE >In the two years since we initially introduced ESI as a short idea a great deal has changed for both the company and the for-profit postsecondary education sector at large. We would summarize the...
READ MORE >In the 7 trading days since the start of the annual E3 video game convention, THQI shares have declined 16%. The E3 convention has historically served as an opportunity for video game developers and publishers to...
READ MORE >Details of the Department of Education’s Gainful Employment regulation were released this evening. The full regulation will likely be published tomorrow on the Department of Education’s website here or here, or ultimately in the Federal Register by Friday...
READ MORE >On Friday, May 26th after the close, IPSU announced that it would not exercise its option to acquire the remaining ownership stake in Wholesome Sweeteners from Edward Billington and Son Ltd, a UK based food...
READ MORE >In a move that has received little fanfare thus far, yesterday Senators Durbin (D-IL), Franken (D-MN), and Whitehouse (D-RI), along with Representatives Cohen (D-TN), Davis (D-IL), Miller (D-CA), and...
READ MORE >We wanted to provide you with an update on the performance of our SMid Cap portfolio, which we introduced on 9/3/09. You can read more about the parameters for the portfolio, our approach to risk management, and return objectives of the PAA Research SMid Cap...
READ MORE >In a move that has received little attention among investors in the for-profit postsecondary education space, approximately 10-days ago, the Appropriations Higher Education Committee in the House of...
READ MORE >In our 2Q11 earnings preview for IPSU we argued that we were excited about the company’s pending earnings release even though we did not expect the quarterly results themselves to be particularly compelling. As a reminder our enthusiasm heading into the quarter was based on the...
READ MORE >In the 21-months since we published our initial report recommending that investors go long shares of IPSU, quite a bit has changed. One thing that has not: IPSU’s share price. The stock has declined 1.5% since we published our original report, compared to a 34.5% gain in the S&P 500...
READ MORE >Make no mistake, KNOT’s 1Q11 results provide further evidence that the company’s efforts to improve monetization of their major media platforms have started to result in accelerated revenue growth. However, KNOT reported 1Q11 results that fell short of...
READ MORE >Our Revised EstimatesARC’s 1Q11 results were more or less inline with our expectations after adjusting for accelerated amortization of trade names and costs associated with elimination of the company’s interest rate swaps as a result of the company’s debt refinancing. Recent...
READ MORE >In many respects, THQI’s 4Q11 earnings report and subsequent conference call was everything longs could have hoped for: The company reported EPS upside (even though revs were slightly below consensus) Quarter ending cash was higher than expectations Homefront has achieved profitability The...
READ MORE >Questions We Would Like to Hear on the CallHere are some of the questions that we would like to hear management answer on COCO’s upcoming 3Q11 conference call: In light of the substantial tuition price increases, why did revenue per student...
READ MORE >Approximately 8-weeks ago, we introduced OPEN as a short idea. You can read our original 40-page report by clicking here. The principal elements of our short thesis are as follows: 1. OPEN’s electronic reservation booking system (ERB) in many respects...
READ MORE >In the six weeks ago since we penned a report entitled: “Homefront’s a Hit, the EPS Implications” we have been asking ourselves the same question over and over (and perhaps many of our clients have been saying the same thing) – What do we know? The 30% decline in THQI’s shares over the...
READ MORE >We first introduced BCO as a long idea in June of 2009. Admittedly, this has not been one of our best stock ideas. The stock has returned a relatively uninspiring 14% while the S&P 500 has surged 44% higher over the same time...
READ MORE >BGG shares rallied modestly today, despite the significant outperformance posted by the company on both the top and bottomline for 3Q11. We attribute the tepid stock price response to the relatively muted outlook for 4Q11 provided by...
READ MORE >We have been recommending a pair trade: long BGG/short TTC for approximately 6-9 months. Thus far the trade has not been a winner, generating a modest gain 1.5% compared to a robust 26.5% increase for the...
READ MORE >ESI report 4Q10 earnings and the results of their spring term enrollment intake. Overall the company reported revenues and EPS of $383.2 million and $2.91 compared to consensus of $383.3 million and...
READ MORE >For an industry that has distinguished itself in the equity markets as a consistent source of trading opportunities, the “whip-saw” action in the for-profit education sector in the first four months of the year has...
READ MORE >In a move that has been largely overlooked by most investors in the for-profit postsecondary education space, Governor Jerry Brown (CA-D) signed Senate Bill 70 into law on March 24, 2011. While SB 70 includes many other elements aimed at reducing unwieldy budget deficits in...
READ MORE >Although the company’s results were relatively inline with consensus we would argue KNL’s 1Q11 operating results and significant YOY increase in backlog further validated our thesis that the company will be the fastest growing...
READ MORE >Approximately four months ago we introduced a pair trade idea: Long KNL/Short MLHR. You can read our original report here. Our pair trade thesis is predicated on the following...
READ MORE >There was a time not too long ago when investors in the for-profit postsecondary education sector viewed those institutions that generated a high percentage of their revenues from Pell Grant funding...
READ MORE >We wanted to provide you with an update on the performance of our SMid Cap portfolio, which we introduced on 9/3/09. You can read more about the parameters for the portfolio, our approach to risk management, and return objectives of the PAA...
READ MORE >In August of 2010, KNOT introduced daily deal offerings on its weddingchannel.com site in 7 markets. Generally speaking the KNOT’s Daily Deals offering includes products and services related to the preparation for (dance lessons,...
READ MORE >As IPSU muddles along all too close to its 52-week lows, we thought it might be interesting to consider the following: US Refined/raw sugar spreads are close to record levels. List bulk industrial refined sugar prices through...
READ MORE >SELL
$50
LONG
$110
SELL/SHORT
$230
SELL/SHORT
$55
LONG
$70
SELL/SHORT
$4
SELL/SHORT
$45
SHORT
$18
SELL/SHORT
$5
SELL/SHORT
$42
LONG
$75
SELL/SHORT
$50
SELL/SHORT
$50
LONG
$5.50
SHORT
$50
SHORT
$28
LONG
$65
LONG
$37
PAIR TRADE
$10
PAIR TRADE
$30
LONG
$35
SHORT
$35
SELL/SHORT
$10
SHORT
$101
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$0
SHORT
$9
SHORT
$0
PAIR - LONG BGG/SHORT TTC
25%
SHORT
$14.00
SHORT
$22
SHORT
$15
SHORT
$20
SHORT
$31
SHORT
$35
SHORT
$30
PAIR - LONG KNL/SHORT MLHR
25%
SHORT
$100
LONG
$8
LONG
$20
SHORT
$22
PAIR - LONG CSGP/SHORT LOOP
40%
LONG
$35
SHORT
$275
SHORT
$0