ITT Educational Services: Solid Results, Debt Concerns Going Forward

Small Cap Watch List member ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ESI) reported earnings:

ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ESI), a leading provider of technology-oriented postsecondary degree programs, today reported that Earnings Per Share in the first quarter of 2007 increased 46.7 percent to $0.66 compared to $0.45 in the first quarter of 2006. Revenue in the three months ended March 31, 2007 increased 15.8 percent to $204.2 million compared to $176.3 million in the first quarter of 2006.

Analysts were expecting the company to earn $0.54 on $198 million in revenue. Guidance was also strong:

[CFO Daniel] Fitzpatrick closed by noting, “The fundamentals of our business remain extremely strong and, as a result of our operational and financial performance during the first quarter of 2007, we are raising our internal goal for 2007 EPS from the range of $3.17 to $3.21 to the revised range of $3.40 to $3.50.”

Consensus estimates were already slightly above management’s guidance, at $3.22. Still, not all was coming up roses:

Fitzpatrick said, “Bad debt expense as a percentage of revenue increased to 2.3 percent in the three months ended March 31, 2007 compared to 1.4 percent in the same period during 2006. We believe that our bad debt expense will remain within our historical range of 1.0 and 3.0 percent of revenue. Days sales outstanding was 4.3 days as of March 31, 2007 and 5.0 days as of March 31, 2006.”

Bad debt was one of the earnings quality concerns we developed when we reviewed the 10K. Even if management claims it is within historical ranges, the truth is it is still rising. It is also, apparently, an industry-wide phenomenon. Investors should keep a close eye on collections going forward.

ESI 1-yr chart: