Apollo Now Over $1 Billion in Quarterly Revenues (APOL)

The online university giant Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) has just posted its first $1 billion revenue quarter which showed 26% year-over-year growth.  The company’s degreed enrollment has now reached 420,700 during the third quarter, and that is a 22% increase from a year ago as new degreed enrollments increased 23%.

The total revenues were up 25.9% to $1.0513 billion, and net income was $201.1 million or $1.26 EPS.  Thomson Reuters had estimates at $1.12 EPS and $1.04 billion in revenue.  The company did not give any formal guidance, so this should be considered incomplete data until after its conference call.

Apollo also repurchased approximately 7.2 million shares of its common stock at a weighted average purchase price of $61.62 per share, which came to $444.4 million.  On June 25, 2009, the Board of Directors authorized an increase of the share repurchase program to an aggregate of $500 million.

As of May 31, 2009, the Company’s cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities, excluding restricted cash, totaled $819.1 million.  The company has also lowered its time to collect as it reported that accounts receivable on May 31, 2009 fell to $192.6 million from $221.9 million at August 31, 2008.  The company said this was primarily due to improvements in processing time for the receipt of student financial aid and an increase in the allowance for doubtful accounts.  At the same time, its total deferred revenue at May 31, 2009, increased to $261.2 million from $231.2 million at August 31, 2008.

Shares closed down 3.66% at $65.99 in active trading today.  So far, we have shares trading around $66.30 after the earnings.  Its 52-week trading range is $43.54 to $90.00.

Jon C. Ogg
June 29, 2009