Morgan Stanley Sees Little Help from American Public Education in F14

In a report published Friday, Morgan Stanley analyst Suzanne E. Stein reiterated an Equal-Weight rating on American Public Education (NASDAQ: APEI).In the report, Morgan Stanley noted, “APEI was heavily impacted by the suspension of the DoD Tuition Assistance (TA) program due to the government shutdown, as ~13,100 net course registrations were dropped (~$10M hit to revenue). Civilian net course registrations, which come at a higher cost (higher marketing spend & bad debt expense), improved 6% in Q4, but could not offset the decline in military enrollments. Continued uncertainty and constraints regarding the military budget should pressure course registration growth. APEI is diversifying its offerings with medical degrees and international graduate courses which is positive for long-term revenue and margins, but offers little help in F14.”American Public Education closed on Thursday at $46.25.