Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Scott Shaw: Thank you, operator. We want to thank you for joining us today and for your continued interest and support. Our performance through the first nine months of 2023 demonstrates that we are achieving our objectives and we remain steadfast on continuing our growth. We have a dedicated team and their efforts in pursuit of excellence allow us to help our students achieve their career goals. We look forward to updating you on our full-year 2023 results during Q1 of 2024. Until then, have a happy Thanksgiving and a safe and joyous holiday season. Thank you, everyone.

Michael Polyviou: Thank you. Crystal, actually somebody did just pop in. As Scott was closing out, is he still available?

Operator: Yes. I just…

Operator: And pardon me, we do have a question from Robert Puopolo from Epic Partners. Your line is open.

Robert Puopolo: Hi Scott, sorry about the last minute entry here. Congratulations by the way, excellent growth.

Scott Shaw: Thank you.

Robert Puopolo: Two questions first, as you look at capital expenditures, sort of, the guidance this year, $30 million to $33 million, do you distinguish between growth capital expenditures and maintenance CapEx or can you? I suspect Levittown would be growth, but — and perhaps Atlanta too, but was curious if you could shed some light there?

Scott Shaw: Sure. So typically, we look at 1% to 2% of revenue as far as what would be maintenance, CapEx, and all the rest is growth. So you can see that the vast majority of our CapEx this year, as well as what will happen next year are all focused on growth opportunities, which is why we feel really good about our growth opportunities in general, because not only as we mentioned getting good organic growth, but we’re going to be able to add and replicate some of our most successful programs into other markets, as well as enter new markets completely like Houston. So we believe these are really solid investments.

Brian Meyers: Right, so added a $33 million about $25 million is really growth related to the Atlanta program expansions.

Robert Puopolo: Okay, great, thank you. Follow-up question in — and perhaps I’ve missed it, but in previous quarters there’ve been discussions about stock repurchase plans and authorizations and so forth and how much had been purchased. Any updates as it relates to that?

Scott Shaw: Sure. Well, the update was we didn’t make any new purchases and as we continue to drive. I think performance our objective is to drive stock price up through those initiatives and so to the extent we see greater opportunity or the board decides that there’s an opportunity to buy back stock, we certainly will do that. But right now, we’re using these resources to help fund, I believe, a good, solid growth for our company.

Brian Meyers: And since we announced the plan, the repurchase plan, we repurchase 1.7 million shares for a little over $10 million.

Robert Puopolo: Super. Thank you very much.

Scott Shaw: Great. Thank you.

Michael Polyviou: Thank you, Crystal.

Scott Shaw: And thanks again everyone. I still wish you have a happy Thanksgiving and a joyous holiday season. Thanks everyone.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect. Everyone have a wonderful day.

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