Barrington Research Maintains Outperform on Grand Canyon Education

Barrington Research has reiterated its Outperform rating on Grand Canyon Education

on Q3 EPS that topped estimates and reaffirmed Q4 guidance. According to Barrington, “Grand Canyon Education reported the financial results of its third quarter ended September 30, in which revenue was in line with consensus estimates and diluted EPS (beat by $0.04) were above both our estimate and the First Call consensus. Initial guidance for Q4/11 was in line with consensus expectations and management noted an improving trend in its online new student starts. … Management guided Q4/11 revenues to $112-116 million (capturing the current consensus estimate of $115.4 million) and operating margins to 18.5% (in line with our estimate of 18.3%). Assuming a 40% tax rate and the Q3/11 share count (44.8 million), diluted EPS is expected in a range of $0.28-29, which is in line with both our current estimate ($0.28) and the current consensus estimate of $0.29.” LOPE traded at $15.83 on Monday's market close.