Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:LOPE) Q2 2023 Earnings Conference Call August 3, 2023 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Brian Mueller - Chief Executive Officer, President and Director
Daniel Bachus - Chief Financial Officer

Conference Call Participants

Jeffrey Meuler - Baird
Ryan Griffin - BMO

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Second Quarter 2023 Grand Canyon Education Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions]. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Dan Bachus, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Daniel Bachus

Joining me on today's call is our Chairman and CEO, Brian Mueller. Please note that many of our comments today will contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Various factors could cause our actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by such statements. These factors are discussed in our SEC filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K. We undertake no obligation to provide updates with regard to the forward-looking statements made during this call, and we recommend that all investors review these reports thoroughly before taking a financial position in GCE.

And with that, I will turn the call over to Brian.

Brian Mueller

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining Grand Canyon Education's Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2023 Conference Call. GCE had a very good quarter, exceeding enrollment expectations by producing new starts that were approximately 20% over prior year and also producing greater-than-expected retention numbers, exceeding revenue guidance estimates at midpoint by $3.1 million and producing an $0.11 beat in adjusted diluted earnings per share to consensus. An article that recently appeared in Fortune Magazine titled the labor shortage is pushing American colleges into crisis, with the plunge in