Santa Ana-based vocational school operator Corinthian Colleges Inc. topped Wall Street expectations with results for the recently ended quarter but offered a profit outlook for the current one that fell short of expectations.
For the three months through June, Corinthian forecast profits of $32 million to $34.6 million, up about 20% from a year earlier but below the $35.5 million analysts had been expecting on average.
Shares of Corinthian were down about 6% in midday New York trading on a market value of $1.3 billion.
The company raised its sales outlook for the current quarter, forecasting $472 million to $482 million in revenue, versus $353.5 million in sales in the year-ago quarter.
Analysts had been expecting $465.6 million in revenue for the current quarter.
The company, which runs more than 100 campuses in the U.S. and Canada offering degrees in healthcare, criminal justice and other areas, didn’t address its lower profit outlook in an earnings release.
In the recently concluded quarter, Corinthian saw a rise in general and administrative costs after last year’s acquisition of San Francisco-based Heald Capital LLC, parent company of Heald College.
Corinthian also is dealing with higher defaults by student loan borrowers.
The company said it’s working to keep in touch with former students, identify early delinquencies and provide financial counseling for current students.
For the three months through March, Corinthian reported a profit of $42.6 million, up 65% from a year earlier and topping the $40.8 million expected by Wall Street.
Revenue was up 38% to $478.3 million, topping the $472.7 million expected by analysts.
