At a time of uncertainty and business model overhauls, we examined recent earnings reports to gauge the state of the sector.
The latter part of 2018 made for a horrendous close to the year for a handful of operators in the for-profit college sector.
Education Corporation of America shut down its 70-plus campuses essentially overnight after losing its accreditation in early December. Vatterott, a smaller but not insignificant player, also shuttered that month. And unbeknownst to students at the time, Dream Center Education Holdings (DCEH) was facing insolvency as it rushed to work out a deal to offload some of its better-performing campuses.
Also, National American University left the Nasdaq composite because its market cap fell below requirements. Short on cash, it issued a warning soon after that it might not survive the next 12 months.