UTI

Image source: The Motley Fool. Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026 at 4:30 p.m. ET Vice President, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations - Matthew Kempton Chief Executive Officer - Jerome Grant Chief Financial Officer - Bruce Schuman Operator: Good day, and welcome to the Universal Technical Institute's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that today's event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Matt Kempton, Vice President, Corporate Finance and Investor Relations. Please go ahead. Matthew Kempton: Hello, and welcome to Universal Technical Institute's Fiscal Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. Joining me today are our CEO, Jerome Grant; and CFO, Bruce Schuman. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for your questions. A replay of this call, its transcript and our investor presentation will be archived on the Investor Relations section of our website at investor.uti.edu, along with our earnings release issued earlier today and furnished to the SEC. During this call, we may make comments that contain forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which by their nature, address matters that are in the future and are uncertain. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and expectations and are subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, those discussed in our earnings release and SEC filings. These statements do not guarantee future performance, and therefore, undue reliance should not be placed upon them. We do not intend to update these forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future developments, except as required by law. Please note, unless otherwise stated, all comparisons in this call will be against our results for the comparable period of fiscal 2025. The information presented today also includes non-GAAP financial measures. These should be viewed in addition to and not as a substitute for, the company's reported results prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. All non-GAAP financial measures referenced in today's call are reconciled in our earnings press release to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. For information regarding definitions of our non-GAAP measures, please see our earnings release, financial supplement and investor presentation. With that, I will turn the call over to Jerome Grant, CEO of Universal Technical Institute for his prepared remarks. Jerome? Jerome Grant: Thank you, Matt. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. The third quarter was another strong quarter for Universal Technical Institute and reinforces our confidence in both the environment for job demand for our students as well as student interest in our program offerings. Despite some shorter-term challenges we will discuss, we remain extremely confident in the strength of our long-term North Star strategy. Driven by the strength of our new campuses and programs as well as stronger-than-expected interest in our skilled trade programs, we exceeded expectations for new student starts this quarter, generating 11% year-over-year growth, with a particularly strong contribution from UTI division, which increased 23% year-over-year. Average full-time active students increased 6%, reflecting continued enrollment growth across both UTI and Concorde divisions. Revenue grew 7% year-over-year to $219 million. Baseline adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $27 million. Our SEC reported adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $18 million due to $9 million in strategic growth investments. These results continue to validate the strategy we've been executing over the past several years and reinforced that the underlying demand environment remains exceptionally healthy. Across the industries we serve, employers continue to face significant shortages of skilled workers. Whether we're speaking with automotive dealers, manufacturers, health care systems, electrical contractors or industrial employers, the message is consistent. Demand for qualified skilled graduates continues to far exceed the available supply. That sustained supply and demand imbalance has created a durable and attractive backdrop for our business. We are seeing particularly strong momentum across skilled trades, where infrastructure investment, domestic manufacturer, energy projects and data center construction continue to drive demand for electricians, HVAC tech, welders, industrial maintenance professionals and other skilled workers. Nearly every week, you will read articles in major print and digital publications such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek about both the increasing demand for and accelerating interest in the trades. These trends further reinforce that the investments we've made to expand our skilled trades offerings were the right strategic decision. The demand for skilled health care workers also remains quite strong, with providers continuing to face staffing shortages across many of the disciplines we serve. We're seeing particularly strong momentum in our radiology technician programs where enrollment and demand have ramped rapidly. Now at the same time, employer demand for transportation technicians remains exceptionally robust. For example, there are more than twice as many open positions on our campus job boards than the number of automotive or diesel graduates we produce. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics is projecting tens of thousands of job openings in this space. Several years ago, we made the decision to expand beyond transportation because we believe that the long-term workforce education opportunity was much broader. Today, we have the programs, campuses and employer relationships in place to meet the evolving student demand. As students increasingly gravitate towards our skilled trades offering, our newer campuses, capacity expansions of skilled trades offering and recently launched programs continue to outperform both our plan and market expectations. These results further validate the diversification strategy we've been executing throughout North Star. And because we moved aggressively and invested ahead of where the student demand is moving, we are well positioned to capture those opportunities while continuing to support the needs of our employer partners in all industries we serve. While we've had strong year-to-date results and the overall demand environment remains exceptionally healthy, we have unfortunately seen some near-term softness in our UTI division's high school channel relative to our original expectations. Specifically, fourth quarter UTI high school starts, which are primarily weighted towards auto and diesel programs are tracking below our initial outlook. This year's UTI division lead flow is up over 15%. And candidly, we simply did not get to all the prospective students who expressed interest. But we view this as a near-term opportunity to improve execution, especially within this channel. We are proactively taking steps to strengthen our engagement with prospective students and improve conversion through the enrollment process. To address this, this summer, we are increasing our admission staffing dedicated to the high school channel by approximately 20%. We've largely completed this initiative, putting us on strong footing heading into fiscal 2027. These staffing additions will improve our conversion and better serve the needs of our employer partners. As previously noted, we also experienced stronger-than-expected student interest in our skilled trades offerings. As a result, we saw more enrollment growth than originally anticipated in these programs, which are shorter in duration, delivering marginally less revenue and profit than some of our other offerings like automotive and diesel. We are continuously refining our pricing strategies and strengthening the value proposition across our portfolio to ensure our programs remain aligned with employer needs, evolving student demand and long-term market opportunities. Collectively, these actions position us to more optimally balance enrollment opportunities across the portfolio, improve execution and enhance profitability over time. Although these efforts won't materially change the financial outcome for fiscal 2026, they reinforce our confidence in the opportunities ahead and strengthen our outlook as we enter fiscal 2027. With that backdrop, let me provide some additional context on our full year outlook. Entering 2026, and as we communicated with you throughout the year, we expected a strong fourth quarter contribution from the UTI high school channel. But as I mentioned, those new student starts are coming in softer than anticipated. As a result, this and to a smaller degree, the faster-than-expected increase in student interest in our skilled trades programs over transportation offering are impacting our fiscal 2026 expectations. And let me make this clear. This is only about our near-term financial outlook. While we are updating our fiscal 2026 financial guidance, we are really adjusting expectations for Q4 2026. We now anticipate generating consolidated revenue between $893 million and $900 million, reflecting approximately 7% year-over-year growth. Baseline adjusted EBITDA is now expected to exceed $135 million and reported adjusted EBITDA to between $100 million and $103 million due to approximately $35 million of growth investments. We're also tightening the range of our new student starts, which are now expected to be between 31,900 and 32,300. I want to emphasize that these fiscal 2026 adjustments in no way whatsoever alter our confidence in the result of the financial targets we've outlined for Phase 2 of our North Star strategy. We remain confident in both our medium- and long-term projections, which means we are still firmly on track to exceed $1.2 billion in revenue and approached $220 million in adjusted EBITDA in 2029. Bruce will walk through our updated guidance in more detail, but we remain confident in North Star financial targets and the significant long-term opportunity in front of us. The objective of the second phase of our North Star strategy was to build a larger, more diversified workforce education platform with a durable growth engine. This quarter is another proof point that, that strategy is working. Our new campuses continue to outpace expectations. For example, the first start at our newly launched UTI Atlanta campus in July performed exceptionally well, tracking 30% ahead of expectations. Additionally, the strength of UTI San Antonio, which opened in the spring has not slowed. To date, new student starts are tracking roughly 40% ahead of the launch model. The early strong performance of both UTI San Antonio and UTI Atlanta gives us confidence these locations have the potential to ramp to scale faster and perhaps above their projected mature run rates of approximately 800 and more than 1,500 students annually, respectively. Looking ahead, we continue to make excellent progress on our fiscal 2027 campus pipeline. Construction and planning activities are advancing as expected, and we recently announced the campus presidents for our new UTI campus in Salt Lake City and our new Concorde campuses in both Houston and the Phoenix metropolitan areas. These new locations represent another significant opportunity to expand reach into attractive and underserved markets. Our comprehensive UTI campus in Salt Lake City, like Atlanta is designed to support approximately 1,500 students while each of the new Concorde campuses to open in Houston, Atlanta and Glendale, Arizona, are expected to serve roughly 600 students each. With all 3 of our new fiscal 2026 campuses now open and 4 campuses getting ready to launch in fiscal 2027, we remain firmly on track with our North Star operational targets. To reiterate, we plan to open a minimum of 2 and up to 5 new campuses annually, while replicating 12 to 20 new programs annually across the legacy UTI and Concorde campuses each fiscal year. With respect to program replications, this year, we're on track to launch more than 20 new programs across UTI and Concorde, making fiscal 2026 one of the most active years for program replications in our history. At the UTI division, we've continued to build on the red hot demand for our skilled trades offerings while strengthening our position in aviation with 12 new programs on existing UTI campuses across HVACR, our electrical suite and aviation maintenance in 2026. Most recently, we completed the nationwide rollout of our electric vehicle and hybrid curriculum and added HVACR to the UTI Lisle campus. On the Concorde side, we set out to launch 10 program replications this year. And as of today, we've actually successfully launched 12 programs across the health care campuses. These programs include dental assistant, diagnostic medical sonography, pharmacy technician, radiology technician and surgical technician. Over the last several years, we have successfully executed the first 2 pillars of the North Star strategy, growth and diversification. We fundamentally transformed Universal Technical Institute from a primarily transportation-focused education company into a diversified workforce education platform, serving transportation, the skilled trades, health care and the dental markets. A major catalyst in that transformation was our acquisition of Concorde Career Colleges, which unlock an entirely new market as we made our entrance into health care and broaden our addressable market. From the beginning, we took a deliberate approach to integration, preserving the strength and brands of both organizations while creating infrastructure needed to support a larger, more diversified company. That approach has worked brilliantly and has enabled us to expand our campus footprint, launched dozens of new programs, increased student capacity and establish a stronger enterprise. As we continue to scale, we've reached an important inflection point, where we believe we can better leverage the capabilities we've built across the organization. As I mentioned last quarter, we're increasingly operating as one enterprise with 2 highly respected brands serving distinct markets. The North Star strategy, as we've repeatedly shared with you, has 3 components: growth, diversification and optimization. To date, the third leg of the North Star has been focused on optimizing how we operate behind the scenes by unifying supporting capabilities and simplifying operations. In the culmination of a year-long strategic initiative, as of the end of July, we are now operating all of our programs within both of our brands under one enterprise operating model. This is an important planned step in the evolution of our company. By unifying the capabilities we've developed across both UTI and Concorde brands, we can simplify how we operate, improved student acquisition and better align our resources behind the highest return opportunities across our businesses. Many of these opportunities ahead are enterprise-wide. Whether it's adapting to change in the digital marketing landscape, leveraging the power of artificial intelligence to enhance student acquisition, deepening employer partnerships or supporting future campus expansion, we believe a more unified approach will allow us to move faster and execute more effectively. What does not change in this unification is the strength of our customer-facing brands, UTI and Concorde have tremendous brand equity in respective markets, and we will continue to preserve what makes each institution unique while leveraging the capabilities we have cultivated. One area where this is particularly relevant is student acquisition. Students are increasingly using AI tools earlier in their research process, which is changing where inquiries originate and how prospective students engage with our brands. Our acquisition strategy has never depended on a single source of lead. We have built a diversified model that spans paid search, social, organic discovery, admissions outreach, referrals, nurture campaigns and other digital off-line channels. That diversification has allowed us to adapt as search behaviors evolve. We're already seeing the resilience of our results. At Concorde, total marketing leads increased 22% year-over-year, while UTI total inquiries increased 18%, demonstrating continued healthy demand across the portfolio even as students increasingly discover us through different channels. We are also continuing to strengthen our position by creating more authoritative content, optimizing our media investments, expanding third-party validation through employer relationships and earned media and enhancing how we measure performance as AI-driven discovery continues to evolve. We believe these efforts, combined with our strong brand and employer partnerships position us well to efficiently continue attracting prospective students regardless of how they choose to begin their search. Another strong area of opportunity is expanding our B2B partnerships. While each employer has unique needs, employers across the industries we serve are facing common challenges. They need more qualified talent and they need solutions that help them recruit, train and retain talent more effectively. We believe our platform positions us to play even a larger role in how we can help employers address these workforce challenges. We continue to pursue opportunities to create customized workforce solutions that expand the talent pipeline for new employer partners while deepening our relationships with our existing partners. For example, we're working with several of our current transportation and skilled trade partners that need to hire hundreds of additional workers annually. A number of these partners are facing rising costs due to limited supply of qualified talent and are evaluating having UTI expand their bespoke training curriculum across additional campuses while supporting recruitment in student services. We're currently in conversation with a major electric vehicle manufacturer regarding this topic. Another potential partner, a leading multinational company focused on electrification and industrial automation also has limited internal training capacity due to the number of facilities available to support its month-long onboarding process. This company is exploring a new broader partnership with UTI to support recruitment, training and onboarding, while leveraging our campuses to create additional capacity. We're also evaluating similar opportunities with major airlines and defense contractors that are facing increasing pressure to attract and retain the talent necessary to fulfill contract obligations. And finally, we continue to work with Heartland to address the significant demand for dental hygienist. We're currently discussing 3 additional co-branded Concorde campuses that would build on the success of Fort Myers location with Concorde recruiting, training and placing students into Heartland locations nationwide. While each of these opportunities is unique, they all reinforce the same point. Employers increasingly view Universal Technical Institute as a trusted workforce partner capable of helping them solve critical talent challenges. We look forward to sharing more specific details on these opportunities as they continue to develop. As we look ahead, our confidence in the business continues to strengthen as our North Star strategy moves forward. As demonstrated by the performance of our new campuses and programs, we have built a durable and repeatable growth platform, supported by strong demand, disciplined execution, a healthy balance sheet and meaningful long-term tailwinds across the workforce education. Moving forward, we will continue to optimize our existing campuses and program portfolio to further improve campus level performance, enhance conversion and retention and drive same-store growth, leverage our proven campus launch model to expand into attractive new markets while adding high-demand programs and increasing capacity in areas where demand is strongest, and deepen and diversify our strategic partnerships with employers and industry leaders. Now before I wrap up, I'd like to highlight the recognition our organization continues to receive. Earlier this year, we were added to the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, an important milestone that reflects the significant progress we've made scaling and diversifying the company. Additionally, this fall, 3 of our UTI campuses will once again be recognized as ACCSC School of Excellence, underscoring our continued commitment to educational quality, student outcomes and operational excellence. These accomplishments reinforce the strength of our platform, the dedication of our people, the significant progress we've made and most notably, the immense opportunity that remains ahead. I want to thank our students, instructors, campus team and employees for their hard work and commitment. Their passion for steering students and supporting our employer partners is what makes these results possible. We're proud of our performance this quarter and remain focused on executing on our strategy and creating long-term value for our students, employer partners and shareholders. With that, I'll turn the call over to Bruce, our CFO, to review our third quarter financials and provide you with additional details on our guidance. Bruce? Bruce Schuman: Thank you, Jerome. As Jerome discussed, our third quarter results reflect a business that continues to execute well operationally, while we also invest to support the long-term opportunity outlined in our North Star Phase 2 strategy. In the third quarter, total average full-time active students grew 5.8% year-over-year to 25,131 while total new student starts increased 10.9% to 6,342. This growth was driven by continued strength across our newly launched programs and campuses with the UTI division contributing significantly to the increase. Concorde starts were softer driven by fewer clinical starts in the quarter relative to the comparable year. As we've mentioned in the past, start instances can vary based on academic calendars and the timing of program cohorts, and this impact was known and included in our Q3 outlook. The Concorde division grew average full-time active students, 8.5% year-over-year for the third quarter, reflecting continued strength in our dental programs. The UTI division increased average full-time active students 4% year-over-year, driven by continued momentum across new campuses and program expansions as well as strong demand for skilled trades offerings. Third quarter revenue on a consolidated basis increased 7.2% to $218.9 million. Concorde contributed $80.9 million, an increase of 11.1% over the prior year quarter, while the UTI division contributed $138 million, an increase of 5% over the prior year quarter. Turning to profitability. Consolidated net income for the third quarter was $2.3 million or $0.04 per diluted share, which was consistent with our expectations outlined last quarter. Baseline adjusted EBITDA for the third quarter was $27.2 million, including $9 million in growth investments, our SEC reported adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $18.2 million. At the end of the quarter, we had 55 million shares outstanding. Total available liquidity at the end of the quarter was $181 million, including short-term investments and remaining capacity on our revolving credit facility. Year-to-date capital expenditures were $85.4 million or approximately 85% of our originally targeted spend for the year. In an effort to capitalize on the momentum we're seeing in the business and to ensure on-time launches of our fiscal year '27 initiatives, we've accelerated some of our CapEx spend and now expect to execute on approximately $110 million of capital expenditures this year. Now turning to our full year outlook. As Jerome discussed, the underlying fundamentals of the business remain healthy. Employer demand continues to exceed available graduate supply, student interest remains strong and our newer campuses and recently launched programs continue to perform at or above our expectations. We also believe it's important to balance that confidence with appropriate expectations for the remainder of the current year based on what we're now seeing. Due to the challenge in our high school starts in Q4 and the more muted impact of our program mix, we now expect consolidated revenue to range from $893 million to $900 million for fiscal 2026 or approximately 7% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. Net income is now anticipated to be between $32 million and $36 million, with diluted earnings per share of $0.57 to $0.64. Baseline adjusted EBITDA is now expected to exceed $135 million and reported adjusted EBITDA to be between $100 million and $103 million due to approximately $35 million of growth investments. We are also tightening the range for total new student starts, which are now expected to be between 31,900 and 32,300. Let me provide some additional context around what's driving the revised outlook. First, and most importantly, as Jerome emphasized, this is not an underlying demand issue. In fact, inquiries are up solidly in both divisions. We exceeded our expectations for new student starts during the quarter, and we continue to expect to finish the year squarely in the range of our original start expectations. The primary driver, as Jerome outlined, is lower-than-anticipated fourth quarter new student starts specific to our UTI division's high school channel, primarily in the auto diesel program. To a lesser extent, we're seeing some impact of UTI's portfolio mix due to the incredibly strong starts performance in the skilled trades, which are shorter and drive less revenue compared to other offerings. As we've shared with you since first releasing our fiscal 2026 guidance last November, based on our normal seasonality as well as the timing of our growth investments this year, we expected Q4 to have an outsized impact on the year. Because our new student starts in the fourth quarter are not coming in as strong as we'd initially expected, revenue and profitability are impacted and we've, therefore, aligned our outlook to reflect a still strong and very profitable but more measured Q4. Further, we continue to maintain confidence in the long-term earnings power of the business and in our trajectory toward our fiscal 2029 targets. Second, fiscal 2026 represents the largest investment year-to-date in our North Star Phase 2. We've intentionally accelerated investments in campus expansions and new programs. The early results we're seeing across these initiatives only reinforce our conviction that expanding access to the programs we offer is the best use of capital for our students, employer partners and investors. Nothing in our updated fiscal 2026 outlook changes our confidence in the long-term financial framework we've established for North Star Phase 2 nor in the underlying building blocks to get there. We continue to maintain confidence in delivering more than $1.2 billion in revenue by fiscal 2029 and adjusted EBITDA approaching $220 million that year. As we move into fiscal 2027, we continue to expect revenue growth higher than fiscal 2026 and are targeting modest EBITDA growth with more meaningful EBITDA expansion in fiscal 2028 and 2029. Supporting new campus and program launches, we continue to plan for $100 million or more of annual capital expenditures. Importantly, looking ahead, we remain confident in our long-term outlook outlined in Phase 2 of our North Star strategy. With the results we're seeing, we are emboldened that the investments we are making today are strengthening the foundation for sustained growth and long-term value creation. We also remain focused on executing with discipline, managing our investments thoughtfully and positioning the company to continue to deliver revenue growth, margin expansion and shareholder value. In addition to this earnings call transcript, we encourage everyone to review our press release, financial supplement, investor presentation and upcoming 10-Q filing. These materials include the latest updates on our consolidated and segment results, strategic initiatives and guidance. As always, thank you to our students, team, partners and investors for your ongoing support. I'd now like to turn the call over to the operator for Q&A. Operator? Operator: [Operator Instructions] And today's first question comes from Jasper Bibb with Truist. Jasper Bibb: You mentioned, I think in the fourth quarter, the high school leads were up 15% year-over-year on UTI, but it sounds like the starts are going to be flat, maybe down in the fiscal fourth quarter for the high school channel. So I guess, just to clarify, do you think this was a capacity problem on your end if some leads may be dropped on the floor for lack of a better term? Or conversion problem? And how does that inform some of the changes that it sounds like you're making? Jerome Grant: It's a great question. It's not a capacity issue. We do have some capacity issues associated with the skilled trades programs which are growing at a significantly faster pace than we originally planned. But we're working very fast to increase capacity for those courses. Frankly, it was an execution issue in terms of the number of reps we had in the field on a persistent basis. We were not able to get to all of the students that we're inquiring. And frankly, that's what's making it fall short. As we said in the call, we've already taken steps in the last month or 2 to remediate that. And we're loaded now with our reps, and we've actually added 20% to the field this year so that it's not replicated again in 2027. Jasper Bibb: And then I think as you look back to last year, I think the high school channel was a little bit weaker than expected in auto diesel in fiscal '25, too. I guess maybe -- are you seeing anything different in the student behavior that's made the productivity of the high school channel or the enrollment cycle a little like weaker or less predictable than it's been historically over the past 2 years? Jerome Grant: Well, as I said, the weakness we outlined was more about the volume of reps we had in the field to be able to process the leads that we had. The change we are seeing in behavior is traditionally, the high school students have been all about auto diesel, right? And that they're 16, 17 years old, they just got their first car and all they want to do is fix cars. We believe that because of a significant increase in the amount of press that's out there around the opportunities in places like welding, electronics, HVAC technicians, et cetera, that people are seeing and younger people are seeing that as an opportunity to hit where the trend is going. I'm going to go help build data centers or industrial automation or things along those lines. What we didn't get right and our mix shift this year is just how many of the students were going to choose these skilled trades over auto diesel. The demand for auto diesel is still quite high and projected to become even higher. What we're seeing, though, is that -- I think because of a lot of the energy that's out there in the market about onshoring and data centers and manufacturing being in the U.S., et cetera, that the message has gotten more down into -- what traditionally was really just an auto diesel group that, "Hey, I want to be a welder or I want to be an HVAC tech. I can make good money." Frankly, I can get through school faster. And that mix shift, we did not have right this year. Jasper Bibb: Last one for me. I know you said that fiscal '29 targets won't be impacted by this, but you build there off '27 and '28. I mean just to kind of confirm '27 expectations in the context of the plan, would it be, I guess, fair to say that maybe total enrollment or total revenue might need to recalibrate for a lower starting point on enrollment going into the year? And then on the comment about modest EBITDA dollar growth for '27, is that going to be off the new $100 million to $103 million baseline? Bruce Schuman: Jasper, this is Bruce. Let me address that. So overall, I can tell you, we feel very confident about '27. So yes, there will be a little bit of carry-in impact from the high school miss directly. But there are so many offsets with the incredible demand we're seeing on the skilled trade side. And frankly, we have been building capacity all for the last several quarters now in '26. You're going to really see that better capacity utilization starts to flow through in '27. We're going to lean in further to capacity in '27 in general in the skilled trades. So no, we don't expect to come off our guidance, especially on EBITDA for '27. We feel very good about how that -- our forward-looking year in '27 is shaping up. Operator: And the next question is from Luke Horton with Northland Securities. Lucas John Horton: Just wanted to touch back on kind of the softer high school enrollment starts. Were you guys alluding to this kind of relating to the increasing usage of AI search as causing kind of some top-of-the-funnel disruptions. Was that kind of what led to the softer high school? Or are those kind of 2 separate instances? Jerome Grant: No, not at all. And you're familiar with most of how high school works. Most of how high school works is not at all dependent on AI search whatsoever. We have had 160-some reps out in the field. They do presentations in front of students who inquire off a QR code on the board for the presentation and -- or an inquiry card, and those are followed up on manually. What I'm saying is that throughout the year, we were running at a deficit of the number of reps that were necessary to get to the number that we were expecting out of them. It was really not a strategy issue. It's really not an AI issue. It was an execution issue, and we've rectified it. So that's more of what of what we saw there. And then the other piece we saw, it's about a 70-30 mix of the deficit is we did not believe going into the year that this many high school students were going to choose to go into the skilled trades, because they hadn't before. But that dynamic has shifted and skilled trades are shorter, are cheaper, are marginally less profitable, although we're working on that. And that's another point in which that affected the high school channel. What we said about AI, just as a point, is that, that type of search is a part of how people find us. But because of the number of diversified channels that people use to find us, we are not seeing the effects in the AI disruption that you are seeing from people who are heavily weighted towards search technologies. So not really much to do at all with the high school channel and rather muted when it comes to UTI. As a matter of fact, our search volume is up, as we said, 18% for UTI, 23% for Concorde. That's because our marketing departments have done such a great job of pivoting into these other channels, they haven't seen any headwinds in the AI space. Lucas John Horton: Okay. Got it. No, that's helpful. And then just kind of shifting gears on the unified UTI and Concorde being under one kind of enterprise operating model. Are there any sort of expected cost synergies or efficiency gains that you guys want to call out or any sort of timeframe where you expect those to materialize? Or anything significant there? Jerome Grant: Yes. I mean we've begun the process of the unification most recently in July as we had been planning throughout the year. Just to reiterate, when we bought Concorde, we specifically did not look at integrating the operating functions or the customer acquisition functions because we believe that in the first 3 years, we could make significant progress in moving Concorde from a $185 million company with single-digit EBITDA to a $300 million company with double-digit EBITDA, and we were very successful at doing that. Now that we've reached sort of a standard operating model of program expansions, campus launches, capacity increases, there's much more similar about the 2 units than they were separate. And that's why we made the choice earlier this year to begin the process now. Sure. Over time, there definitely will be synergies, right? Some of the duplications we lived with for 3 years will be taken out of the system. But what we really think is that it's going to allow us to move faster and more efficiently in things like the customer acquisition process. A single investment in AI technologies and systems like CRMs, student information systems, communication systems, all of that will allow us to move more efficiently and effectively. And so yes, we will see synergies and we'll lay that out to you over time. But we really believe it's going to have a simplification effect on the company by merging systems and processes and technologies moving forward. Operator: And the next question is from Steven Frankel with Rosenblatt. Steven Frankel: Just to revisit this high school issue one more time. Maybe parse out for us, how much of the shortfall is your staffing issue versus mix shift to the students that you did get choosing to be in skilled trades? And then one other aspect. Are any of these students gettable over a period of time? And do you have e-mail campaigns or other outbound ways to maybe pull them back into the funnel? Bruce Schuman: Yes. Sure, Steven. So I can maybe take the first part of that. Jerome can take the second part. So let me bridge you between kind of 2 data points. The adjusted EBITDA numbers we've had in our guide originally, it was north of $155 million. we're now seeing that baseline EBITDA is going to be about $135 million, just north of that. That $20 million delta 70%, roughly, Steven, is directly related to the auto diesel high school starts miss for all the reasons Jerome just outlined. About 30% is the mix piece. And remember, that mix thing is something that's not an accident or where this is a very good thing for the company. We're intentionally driving this mix shift is a critical part of our strategy over the next 3 years. It just happened a little faster than we anticipated. So that's what we're sort of working through and we have good plans to address that for '27. But that's the mix shift on your first part of your question, and I can let Jerome second piece. Jerome Grant: Yes, absolutely. And in the staffing up we've done over the last month, 1.5 months, as we've seen -- as we saw the trend begin to happen, step one early in the year is to go back to those that did not convert and see if we can't get them in, in the first quarter of next year. right? And so absolutely, the basket of nonconverting leads is larger this year, and we have 20% more staff that we've handed them to. So have expectations that they'll begin to rally in the first quarter. Steven Frankel: Okay . Great. And then one more funnel-related question. Everybody talks about AI search kind of raising your cost because you've got to do a lot of other things that you described, what's going on in your cost per lead? Jerome Grant: Well, in general, cost per lead has been relatively stable overall. If you look at our -- just our marketing and advertising spend, Steven, as a percent of revenue, we're actually down a little bit sequentially versus last quarter up a little versus prior year as we really focus on new campus and new program launches. But we've not seen a very material impact in cost per lead at this point. Operator: Our next question comes from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street. Eric Martinuzzi: Jerome, I wanted to follow up on your reps in the field number. You said you're at 160. Is that you were at 160 and you're going to 192 you were at 130-something and you went 160? Jerome Grant: It's somewhere in between, right? We were more in the range of 140-ish throughout the year. running at somewhat of a deficit. Team believed they could catch up and they didn't. And then we're adding to that, again, another 10 or so of that as well. Eric Martinuzzi: Okay. So as we stand here today, we're at roughly 150-ish and that is sufficient to... Jerome Grant: 170ish, a little over 170. Eric Martinuzzi: Okay. All right. And as far as ramping those field reps, is there -- is it pretty cut and dry recipe that you can have somebody or is there a training time line that takes place? Jerome Grant: Well, a brand-new rep is not as productive as say, 2- or 3-year rep. That's when they hit their stride. They don't have the relationships with counselors, with schools, et cetera, to be able to do that. That's in our expectation for next year, but it's mitigated by the increase in headcount as well. So yes, I mean, a seasoned rep is going to have more success than someone who's been there a year or so. But we've got that built into our plan, and we'll share that with you in November when we set guidance for next year. Eric Martinuzzi: Okay. And I was wondering if the -- if there was any Obviously, Atlanta is a new campus, you opened it in July. Was there any tell in the student shift that you enrolled? You said, obviously, you were ahead of plan, you said 30% ahead. But did you see -- was it also with the mix shift evident in Atlanta? Jerome Grant: Not really. And the reason is that when you think about the time line in which you are able to start recruiting to a new campus when you've been approved by ED for Title IV funding, your state approvals, et cetera, that time line wasn't long enough for us to be counting on many high school kids to come in, in July. So in our numbers, we didn't expect that many high school kids to come in. Now that being said, we had already, as we told you on our last call, we had already increased the capacity from the original model and our skilled trades by 50% in the bigger areas because our anticipation was that we were going to get more interest in skilled trades initially because it's also initially mostly an adult population that you get in your initial cohorts. And we were right. right, Is that we're getting about what we expected to get out of auto diesel from the adult population. A longer sale, easier to bring that -- or easier to identify and bring that person through. But we also are glad that we started the capacity increases there. early because when we're talking about 30% upside, a lot of that did come out of skilled trades. Eric Martinuzzi: Got it. And then I just wanted to -- Bruce, if you could recap that FY '27. I know it wasn't guidance, but just sort of color. I think you said FY 2027, that the anticipated revenue is greater than FY 2026. So you've guided to $893 million to $900 million. So something in excess of that would be the expectation for 2027. And then I wanted to make sure I understood the adjusted EBITDA, the modest expansion commentary there is that the $100 million to $103 million new range, modest expansion from that? Bruce Schuman: Well, so first of all, Eric, a couple of things. Let me just -- we have not guided '27 yet, but I'll just give you sort of some general contours like I said in my prepared remarks, our revenue growth will be higher in '27 versus '26. I think in general, where we had sort of pegged EBITDA before that modest growth versus our additional guide, we're going to be -- we feel kind of comfortable with that as where analysts have us right now. But we have not guided '27. We're still working on it, but we feel very strong about the plan in general. Operator: And the next question is from Eric Wold with Texas Capital. Eric Wold: Just a couple of quick questions, again, back on the high school kind of headwind you had in the quarter. I guess when you talked, obviously, the mix shift towards the skilled trade versus auto diesel. What's kind of a good average in terms of what that revenue delta would be between those 2 programs as that mix shift continues? I know something you kind of talked about you had planned on, but it kind of came a little bit earlier. And then is that something you feel that you can adjust pricing around if that demand is moving in one way versus another, you can take advantage of that and price into it? Or is that not possible for one reason or other competitively or something else? Bruce Schuman: Yes, Eric, thanks. I'll take that. So the way to think about the pricing, that average revenue per student for UTI that we disclosed that's going to be very similar -- it looks very similar across all of our skilled trades programs. The big difference is program length. So some of our skilled trades programs are 9 months or so versus kind of 51 weeks to a full year for auto diesel. That's kind of the differential. And then from a margin perspective, again, we don't disclose detailed margins, but there's a small margin differential between skilled trades and auto diesel. We feel, again, very comfortable. All the capacity expansions we've made this year, you're going to see those really get to full capacity. We'll have better utilization in '27, so margins will improve, just on that alone, and we're going to look at everything, pricing optimization and the skilled trades as well. Jerome Grant: Yes. Let me just put a cap on that, which is we talked about the things that we're doing to look at the skilled trades program. There's 2 that sort of our immediately actionable. One is the more capacity you create, the more margin you create on a given campus. And so we're working much more aggressively on building capacity in the skilled trades in our existing campuses. That will drive margin expansion for the skilled trade. And the second point is there is absolutely pricing power. When you've got this much demand and you're selling out many of your cohorts, we do have the ability to reevaluate our price points in here. Not in any crazy material effect or anything like that. But if we're getting a couple of points in price out of -- or we're getting a couple of points in price, you may be able to get a couple more. That's where I see that. Now -- so those 2 things are actually actionable. Operator: [Operator Instructions] The next question is from Griffin Boss with B. Riley Securities. Griffin Boss: I hate to beat a dead horse, but I do hope you appreciate, we want to fully understand this. So on the high school side, I just want to make sure I'm clear here. So one, you said demand for skilled trades is trending much higher than you anticipated. But I think you also said demand for auto diesel is also very robust, right? It's not just a shift from auto diesel to skilled trades, the demand for both is robust? Jerome Grant: Yes. That is true. Right. And so the question is that -- or the thing is that we were articulating in the mix is that if traditionally 5% of the students picked going into one of the skilled trades and 95% go into auto diesel, that is no longer that way. That's -- there's a significant shift to the number of them that are saying, "Well, I'll be a welder or I'll be an electrical worker or I'll be HVAC tech. " That shift, we did not anticipate moving as quickly as it did. And then the other issue, which we outlined about the skilled trades is we simply did not have enough conversations with enough of the leads because we were not running at an optimal staffing level the entire year. I believed we could catch it up. The team did, didn't. And so that -- not a strategy error, but really an execution issue. Griffin Boss: And so on that last point, so were the prospects per rep, it was, what, too high or higher than it has been historically that you were not able to catch up in a way that you have in years past? Jerome Grant: No, it was reps for prospect. The lead count is robust. And yes, we are happy with what we're seeing overall in both digital and non-digital lead count, meaning, there's no -- there definitely is a tailwind around going into the trades and to the transportation areas as well as health care. You can see the numbers in health care. So the issue is, is that we needed more bodies in the field more persistently to be able to have those conversations, and we did not. Griffin Boss: Got it. Okay. Yes. Understood. And then so just wanted to shift gears one more for me. Separately, I was hoping if you could share for us, what percentage of your student body are military affiliated, so veterans or active duty that could be relying on tuition assistance, just an area that was hoping we can get more context on. Jerome Grant: So that's pretty clear. It's about 15% of UTI, right? Now you're going to ask me to do the math overall. I'm going to have trouble with that. But 15% of UTI, very small population in Concorde and quite frankly, the unification that we're moving on now, which we didn't do in the first 3 years, actually brings health care into our military sales channels book bag, for lack of a better word. And so we see that actually as a significant opportunity to be able to work with the military on transitioning soldiers out into the health care areas. It's frankly just something we didn't put any energy into because Concorde wasn't putting energy into it prior to the acquisition. Operator: And this does conclude our question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the conference back over to Jerome Grant for any closing remarks. Jerome Grant: Thank you, operator. I'd like to also thank everyone who attended today. As always, Bruce, Matt and I are available for follow-up questions. We encourage everyone if you have an opportunity, too, to visit one of our campuses. If you're interested in doing that, please let us know, and we'd be happy to host you. We look forward to speaking with you, our investors and analysts when we report our fiscal fourth quarter and full year results for 2026 in November. Thanks again, and have a great evening. Operator: Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines, and thank you for your participation. Before you buy stock in Universal Technical Institute, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Universal Technical Institute wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut are built for long-term growth and could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $403,337!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,334,946!* That performance is why people listen. With a track record of beating the S&P 500 by 4x, Stock Advisor offers a distinct advantage. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built for the long haul. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of August 12, 2026. This article is a transcript of this conference call produced for The Motley Fool. While we strive for our Foolish Best, there may be errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in this transcript. As with all our articles, The Motley Fool does not assume any responsibility for your use of this content, and we strongly encourage you to do your own research, including listening to the call yourself and reading the company's SEC filings. Please see our Terms and Conditions for additional details, including our Obligatory Capitalized Disclaimers of Liability. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. UTI (UTI) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript was originally published by The Motley Fool

Interested in Universal Technical Institute Inc? Here are five stocks we like better. Third-quarter results improved: Revenue rose 7.2% year over year to $218.9 million, while average active students increased 5.8% and new starts climbed 10.9% to 6,342. Concorde revenue grew 11.1%, and UTI starts increased 23%. Fiscal 2026 guidance was reduced because UTI’s high school auto-diesel starts are tracking below expectations and students are shifting faster toward shorter skilled-trades programs, which generate less revenue and profit per student. Management attributed about 70% of the baseline adjusted EBITDA reduction to the high school shortfall and 30% to the program mix shift. Expansion remains a long-term focus: UTI plans additional campuses in Salt Lake City, Houston and Phoenix, raised expected fiscal-year capital spending to about $110 million, and reiterated its fiscal 2029 targets of more than $1.2 billion in revenue and adjusted EBITDA approaching $220 million. Universal Technical Institute (NYSE:UTI) reported higher third-quarter revenue, student enrollment and new student starts, while lowering its fiscal 2026 outlook to reflect softer-than-expected fourth-quarter starts from its UTI division’s high school channel and a faster-than-anticipated shift toward shorter skilled-trades programs. Revenue rose 7.2% year over year to $218.9 million in the fiscal third quarter, supported by enrollment growth across the company’s UTI and Concorde divisions. Consolidated net income was $2.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share. Baseline adjusted EBITDA totaled $27.2 million, while reported adjusted EBITDA was $18.2 million after $9 million of strategic growth investments. → No Hangover: Revisiting Microsoft One Week After Earnings “The third quarter was another strong quarter for Universal Technical Institute and reinforces our confidence in both the environment for job demand for our students as well as student interest in our program offerings,” CEO Jerome Grant said. Total average full-time active students increased 5.8% to 25,131, while new student starts rose 10.9% to 6,342. The UTI division drove much of the starts increase, with starts up 23% year over year, according to Grant. UTI average active students increased 4%, while Concorde average active students increased 8.5%, helped by demand in dental programs. → MarketBeat Week in Review – 08/03 - 08/07 Concorde starts were softer during the quarter because of fewer clinical starts compared with the prior-year period, CFO Bruce Schuman said. He noted that start timing can vary based on academic calendars and program cohort schedules and that the effect had been included in the company’s prior outlook. Concorde revenue increased 11.1% to $80.9 million, while UTI revenue rose 5% to $138 million. → Why the Landlord of the AI Boom Could Outlast the Chipmakers Management cited continued employer shortages across transportation, skilled trades and healthcare occupations. Grant said job openings listed on UTI campus job boards for automotive and diesel technicians exceed the number of graduates the company produces by more than two times. He also cited momentum in programs for electricians, HVACR technicians, welders, industrial maintenance professionals and radiology technicians. Despite strong lead generation, UTI’s fourth-quarter high school starts, which are primarily tied to automotive and diesel programs, are tracking below the company’s initial expectations. Grant said UTI lead flow is up more than 15% year over year, but the company did not reach all prospective students because it did not have enough admissions representatives in the field. “It’s not a capacity issue,” Grant said in response to an analyst question. “Frankly, it was an execution issue in terms of the number of reps we had in the field on a persistent basis.” The company said it has increased admissions staffing dedicated to the high school channel by about 20%. Grant later said the field team had operated at roughly 140 representatives during the year and had grown to more than 170, with additional hiring planned. Management expects the added staffing to improve lead conversion and help the company re-engage prospective students who did not enroll. UTI also said student interest in skilled-trades programs has exceeded expectations. While management characterized that demand as strategically positive, the programs generally are shorter in duration than automotive and diesel programs, resulting in less revenue per student and somewhat lower profitability. Schuman said approximately 70% of the reduction in baseline adjusted EBITDA expectations is tied to the high school auto-diesel starts shortfall, with about 30% tied to the faster program-mix shift toward skilled trades. He said the company intends to increase skilled-trades capacity and review pricing opportunities, which management believes can support margins over time. For fiscal 2026, Universal Technical Institute now expects: Revenue of $893 million to $900 million, representing approximately 7% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. Net income of $32 million to $36 million. Diluted earnings per share of $0.57 to $0.64. Baseline adjusted EBITDA exceeding $135 million. Reported adjusted EBITDA of $100 million to $103 million, reflecting approximately $35 million of growth investments. Total new student starts of 31,900 to 32,300. The revised outlook primarily reflects expected fourth-quarter performance. Management said it still expects full-year starts to fall within its original overall range, but a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter has a disproportionate effect on revenue and profitability because of the company’s normal seasonal patterns and investment timing. Schuman said the company expects fiscal 2027 revenue growth to exceed fiscal 2026 growth and is targeting modest EBITDA growth next year, followed by more meaningful EBITDA expansion in fiscal 2028 and 2029. The company did not issue formal fiscal 2027 guidance. Management reiterated its fiscal 2029 objectives of more than $1.2 billion in revenue and adjusted EBITDA approaching $220 million. The company said its recently opened campuses are performing ahead of initial expectations. The UTI Atlanta campus, which began operations in July, is tracking 30% ahead of expectations, while UTI San Antonio is tracking roughly 40% ahead of its launch model. The company is preparing to open additional fiscal 2027 campuses in Salt Lake City, Houston and the Phoenix metropolitan area. It plans to open at least two and as many as five campuses annually, while replicating 12 to 20 programs per year across legacy UTI and Concorde campuses. Universal Technical Institute also said it has completed the transition to one enterprise operating model for its UTI and Concorde brands. Grant said the company will retain the separate customer-facing brands while seeking to simplify back-office operations, student acquisition efforts, systems and processes. Management expects the initiative to create efficiencies and potential cost synergies over time, though it did not quantify the expected financial benefit. At the end of the quarter, the company had $181 million in available liquidity, including short-term investments and remaining revolving credit facility capacity. Year-to-date capital expenditures were $85.4 million, and management raised its expected fiscal-year capital spending to approximately $110 million as it accelerates investments to support campus and program launches. Universal Technical Institute, Inc (NYSE: UTI) is a leading provider of post-secondary education for students pursuing careers as professional automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle and marine technicians, as well as in welding and CNC machining. The company designs and delivers hands-on training through a blend of classroom instruction and experiential lab work, preparing graduates for entry-level positions in the transportation, manufacturing and energy sectors. UTI's curriculum emphasizes industry-recognized credentials and proprietary coursework developed in collaboration with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to ensure alignment with evolving employer needs. Through a network of campus locations across the United States and select centers in Canada, Universal Technical Institute offers diploma and certificate programs ranging from 36 to 74 weeks in length. This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to [email protected]. The article "Universal Technical Institute Q3 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat. View MarketBeat's top stocks for August 2026.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Revenue: $218.9 million, up 7.2% year-over-year. Net Income: $2.3 million, or $0.04 per diluted share. Adjusted EBITDA (Baseline): $27.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA (Reported): $18.2 million, after $9 million in strategic growth investments. Average Full-Time Active Students: 25,131, up 5.8% year-over-year. New Student Starts: 6,342, up 10.9% year-over-year. UTI Division Revenue: $138 million, up 5% year-over-year. Concorde Division Revenue: $80.9 million, up 11.1% year-over-year. UTI Division Average Full-Time Active Students: Up 4% year-over-year. Concorde Division Average Full-Time Active Students: Up 8.5% year-over-year. Capital Expenditures (Year-to-Date): $85.4 million. Total Available Liquidity: $181 million. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 3 Warning Sign with UTI. Is UTI fairly valued? Test your thesis with our free DCF calculator. Release Date: August 05, 2026 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. New student starts grew 11% year-over-year, exceeding expectations, with UTI division up 23%. New campuses (Atlanta, San Antonio) are outperforming launch models by 30-40%, indicating strong growth potential. Employer demand for skilled graduates remains exceptionally high across all sectors, supporting long-term growth. Skilled trades programs are seeing stronger-than-expected interest, validating diversification strategy. Marketing leads increased 18-22% year-over-year, showing resilience despite AI-driven search changes. Company remains confident in fiscal 2029 targets of $1.2 billion revenue and $220 million adjusted EBITDA. Fourth-quarter UTI high school starts are tracking below expectations due to execution issues with field reps. Fiscal 2026 guidance lowered: revenue now $893-$900 million and adjusted EBITDA reduced to $100-$103 million. Mix shift toward shorter, less profitable skilled trades programs is impacting revenue and profit. Concorde division saw softer starts in Q3 due to fewer clinical starts, affecting overall growth. Increased capital expenditures to $110 million, higher than originally planned, due to accelerated investments. Near-term challenges in high school channel may require time to fully remediate, impacting Q4 results. Q: What caused the shortfall in fourth-quarter UTI high school starts, and what is the company doing to address it?A: CEO Jerome Grant clarified that this was not a demand or capacity issue but an execution problem. The company had a deficit of admissions representatives in the field, preventing them from engaging with all interested students despite a 15% increase in lead flow. To remediate this, UTI has increased admission staffing dedicated to the high school channel by approximately 20% this summer, putting the company on stronger footing for fiscal 2027. Q: Can you quantify the impact of the high school miss versus the shift in program mix on the revised fiscal 2026 guidance?A: CFO Bruce Schuman provided a breakdown of the roughly $20 million delta in baseline adjusted EBITDA guidance. Approximately 70% of the shortfall is directly related to the auto/diesel high school start miss, while about 30% is attributed to the faster-than-expected mix shift toward skilled trades programs, which are shorter in duration and generate marginally less revenue and profit than transportation programs. Q: Is the softer high school performance related to changes in AI-driven search behavior?A: Jerome Grant stated that AI search is not a factor in the high school channel, which relies on field representatives and manual follow-ups. He emphasized that the issue was purely an execution problem related to staffing levels. Regarding AI's broader impact, he noted that UTI's diversified marketing channels have made the company resilient, with total marketing leads up 18% for UTI and 22% for Concorde, and cost per lead remaining relatively stable. Q: How does the company plan to address the margin impact of the shift toward skilled trades programs?A: Jerome Grant outlined two immediate actions: aggressively increasing capacity for skilled trades on existing campuses to drive better utilization and margin expansion, and leveraging pricing power given the high demand and sold-out cohorts. Bruce Schuman added that the primary revenue difference between skilled trades and auto/diesel is program length, and that improved capacity utilization in fiscal 2027 will naturally improve margins. Q: What are the expectations for fiscal 2027 given the revised fiscal 2026 baseline?A: Bruce Schuman expressed strong confidence in fiscal 2027, noting that while there will be a small carry-in impact from the high school miss, it will be offset by incredible demand in skilled trades and better capacity utilization from investments made in 2026. He confirmed that revenue growth in 2027 is expected to be higher than 2026, and the company remains comfortable with current analyst estimates for modest EBITDA growth, with more meaningful expansion expected in 2028 and 2029. Q: What is the performance of the newly launched campuses, and what does it signal for future growth?A: Jerome Grant reported exceptional performance from new campuses. The UTI Atlanta campus, which launched in July, is tracking 30% ahead of expectations, while UTI San Antonio is running roughly 40% ahead of its launch model. These results give management confidence that these locations could ramp to scale faster and potentially exceed their projected mature run rates of approximately 800 and 1,500 students annually, respectively. Q: What synergies are expected from unifying UTI and Concorde under one enterprise operating model?A: Jerome Grant explained that the unification, completed at the end of July, will eliminate duplications in systems and processes over time. More importantly, it will enable faster and more efficient execution in areas like customer acquisition, with a single investment in AI technologies, CRMs, and student information systems. The company also sees significant opportunities to bring healthcare programs into its military sales channels, which were previously untapped for Concorde. Q: Can you provide more detail on the B2B partnership opportunities being pursued?A: Jerome Grant highlighted several ongoing conversations, including with a major electric vehicle manufacturer about expanding bespoke training curriculum across additional campuses, a leading multinational electrification company exploring a broader partnership for recruitment and onboarding, and major airlines and defense contractors facing talent pressures. Additionally, UTI is discussing three more co-branded Concorde campuses with Heartland to address dental hygienist demand, building on the success of the Fort Myers location. Q: What is the company's strategy for managing the shift in student interest from transportation to skilled trades?A: Jerome Grant acknowledged that the mix shift toward skilled trades happened faster than anticipated, but emphasized it is a positive development and a critical part of the company's long-term strategy. The company is working to balance enrollment opportunities across the portfolio by increasing capacity in skilled trades, refining pricing strategies, and strengthening the value proposition. He noted that demand for auto and diesel programs remains robust, with more than twice as many open positions on campus job boards than graduates produced. Q: How is the company addressing the potential impact of AI on student acquisition costs and lead generation?A: Jerome Grant stated that UTI's diversified acquisition model, spanning paid search, social, organic discovery, admissions outreach, referrals, and nurture campaigns, has made the company resilient to AI-driven changes in search behavior. Marketing leads increased 18% for UTI and 22% for Concorde year-over-year, and cost per lead has remained relatively stable. The company is creating more authoritative content, optimizing media investments, and enhancing performance measurement to adapt to evolving AI-driven discovery. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Our analysts just identified a stock with the potential to be the next Nvidia. Tell us how you invest and we'll show you why it's our #1 pick. Tap here. Management attributed the 11% growth in new student starts to strong demand for skilled trades and the successful launch of new campuses in Atlanta and San Antonio. A significant strategic shift is occurring as students increasingly choose shorter, skilled trade programs like welding and HVAC over traditional automotive and diesel tracks. The company identified a near-term execution failure in the UTI high school channel, where they lacked sufficient admissions staffing to process a 15% increase in lead flow. Operational diversification has reached an inflection point, leading to the unification of UTI and Concorde under a single enterprise operating model to leverage AI and shared infrastructure. Employer demand remains a primary tailwind, with campus job boards showing twice as many open positions as available automotive and diesel graduates. The Concorde division saw 8.5% growth in active students, driven by robust demand for dental and radiology technician programs despite timing-related softness in clinical starts. Management reaffirmed their North Star Phase 2 targets, expecting to exceed $1.2 billion in revenue and approach $220 million in adjusted EBITDA by fiscal 2029. To remediate high school channel execution, the company increased admissions staffing by approximately 20% heading into fiscal 2027. Fiscal 2027 guidance assumes higher revenue growth than 2026, supported by four new campus launches in Salt Lake City, Houston, Phoenix, and Atlanta. The company plans to invest $100 million or more in annual capital expenditures to support a pipeline of 2 to 5 new campuses and 12 to 20 new program replications per year. Management expects to improve margins in skilled trades through increased capacity utilization and potential pricing optimizations to offset their shorter program durations. Fiscal 2026 reported adjusted EBITDA was impacted by $35 million in strategic growth investments, reflecting the largest investment year within Phase 2 of the company's North Star strategy. The mix shift toward skilled trades represents a headwind to near-term revenue and profit per student, as these programs are shorter and marginally less profitable than legacy offerings. The transition to a unified enterprise operating model in July aims to eliminate duplicative functions and improve the efficiency of student acquisition across both brands. Management noted that while AI is changing search behaviors, their diversified lead generation model has kept total inquiries up 18% for UTI and 22% for Concorde. One stock. Nvidia-level potential. 30M+ investors trust Moby to find it first. Get the pick. Tap here. Management clarified it was not a lead volume or capacity issue, but an execution failure due to running at a deficit of approximately 20-30 field representatives. They have already increased staffing to over 170 reps to ensure they can process the high volume of inquiries for the 2027 cycle. Skilled trade programs are roughly 9 months compared to 51+ weeks for auto diesel, resulting in lower revenue per student. Management plans to offset this by increasing capacity utilization and leveraging pricing power in high-demand trades like welding and electrical work. The $20 million delta in 2026 baseline EBITDA is viewed as a timing and execution issue rather than a structural demand problem. Management expressed high confidence in '27 and beyond, noting that new campus performance (like Atlanta tracking 30% ahead of plan) supports the long-term trajectory. The unification will allow for single investments in AI, CRM, and student information systems rather than maintaining separate infrastructures for UTI and Concorde. It also enables the company to cross-sell programs, such as offering health care training through existing military recruitment channels.

Total New Student Start Growth Exceeded Expectations Driven by Strong Demand and Continued Momentum Across New Campuses, Reinforcing Confidence in Long-Term North Star Targets PHOENIX, Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI), a leading workforce solutions provider of transportation, skilled trades and healthcare education programs, reported financial results for the fiscal 2026 third quarter ended June 30, 2026. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. operates in two reportable segments, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) and Concorde Career Colleges (Concorde), and together with its segments and subsidiaries is referred to as the "Company," "we," "us" or "our." Financial Highlights Revenue of $218.9 million, an increase of 7.2% over the comparable period. Net income of $2.3 million, a decrease of $8.4 million over the comparable period due to strategic growth expenses. Adjusted EBITDA(1) of $18.2 million, a decrease of 27.8% over the comparable period due to $9.0 million in strategic growth expenses. Reaffirming confidence in the mid- and long-term financial outlook and revising fiscal 2026 guidance. Operational Highlights and North Star Strategy Developments Average full-time active students of 25,131, an increase of 5.8% versus the comparable period, with total new student starts of 6,342, an increase of 10.9% over the comparable period. UTI-Atlanta campus opened in July with initial student starts approximately 30% ahead of the Company's expectations, highlighting continued demand for UTI's skilled-trades portfolio and repeatability of the Company's growth strategy. Announcing a key planned milestone within the "Optimization" pillar of North Star, beginning a multi-year transition to a simplified and unified operating model that will enable the Company to leverage enterprise capabilities, standardize processes, streamline operations, and better align resources to support long-term growth. "Our third quarter results reinforce our confidence in both the demand environment for our students and the strength of the North Star strategy we've been executing," said Jerome Grant, CEO of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. "New student starts grew 11%, exceeding our expectations, driven by a robust performance from our UTI division. Additionally, our newer campuses continue to outperform, with UTI-San Antonio and UTI-Atlanta both tracking well ahead of their launch models, validating the diversification strategy we've been pursuing. "We have unified all programs under one corporate structure, enabling us to better align resources with demand, improve execution and advance the optimization pillar of North Star while preserving the strength of the UTI and Concorde brands. Over the past several years, we have successfully executed the growth and diversification pillars of North Star, building the programs, campuses and employer relationships needed to meet ever-evolving student demand. That demand is now shifting toward skilled trades faster than anticipated, driving outperformance across newer campuses, capacity expansions and recently launched programs. At the same time, our fourth-quarter high school starts in Auto and Diesel are tracking below plan, as we missed the opportunity to reach every prospective student who expressed interest, creating a clear opportunity to strengthen engagement and improve conversion as we start to look at fiscal 2027." Financial Results for the Three-Month Period Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to June 30, 2025 Revenues increased 7.2% to $218.9 million compared to $204.3 million. Operating expenses increased 13.4% to $215.7 million, compared to $190.1 million primarily due to the growth in both UTI and Concorde average full-time active students and strategic growth expenses associated with new campus launches and program expansions currently underway or completed over the last year. Operating income of $3.2 million compared to $14.2 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses. Net income decreased to $2.3 million compared to $10.7 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses. Basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.04, compared to $0.20 and $0.19, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA(1) decreased 27.8% to $18.2 million compared to $25.3 million due to $9.0 million in strategic growth investments. Average full-time active students increased 5.8%, with total new student starts of 6,342 compared to 5,721. "Our third quarter results reflect continued operational strength across the business, with solid enrollment growth, revenue expansion, and disciplined execution against our North Star strategy," said Bruce Schuman, CFO of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. "Average full-time active students increased 5.8% year-over-year, while new student starts increased 10.9%, driven by continued momentum across recently launched campuses, new programs and sustained demand across both divisions. "Based on the timing of fourth-quarter enrollment trends, we are updating our fiscal 2026 outlook to reflect a more measured fourth-quarter expectation. We now expect fiscal 2026 revenue of $893 million to $900 million, baseline Adjusted EBITDA to exceed $135 million and reported Adjusted EBITDA of $100 million to $103 million, giving effect to approximately $35 million of growth investments. We are also tightening our total new student starts outlook, which is now expected to be between 31,900 and 32,300. Importantly, these adjustments reflect largely timing and, to a lesser degree, mix considerations, rather than a change in the underlying demand environment. Employer demand remains strong, student interest continues to be healthy, and our newer campuses and programs continue to perform well. We believe the investments we are making today are strengthening our platform and positioning Universal Technical Institute, Inc. to deliver on the long-term financial targets outlined in our North Star Phase II strategy." Financial Results for the Nine-Month Period Ended June 30, 2026 Compared to June 30, 2025 Revenues increased 7.8% to $661.2 million compared to $613.2 million. Operating expenses increased by 15.7% to $641.9 million compared to $554.7 million primarily due to the growth in both UTI and Concorde average full-time active students and costs associated with new campus launches and program expansions currently underway or completed over the last year. Operating income decreased 67.0% to $19.3 million compared to $58.5 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses. Net income decreased 64.9% to $15.5 million compared to $44.3 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses. Basic and diluted EPS were $0.28 compared to $0.82 and $0.80, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA(1) decreased 33.6% to $59.5 million compared to $89.7 million due to approximately $27.6 million in strategic growth investments. Average full-time active students increased 6.7%, with total new student starts of 19,360 compared to 17,684. Balance Sheet and Liquidity At June 30, 2026, total available liquidity was $180.5 million including cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and capacity from our revolving credit facility. Total debt at June 30, 2026 was $160.0 million, including $95.0 million drawn on the revolving credit facility. As of June 30, 2026, the Company incurred $85.4 million of cash capital expenditures ("capex") driven primarily by investments in new campus and program expansions for both UTI and Concorde, along with spending associated with curriculum and equipment refresh and upgrades, facility and leasehold improvements and IT investments. Updated Fiscal 2026 Financial Outlook For the Company's most recent investor presentation and quarterly financial supplement, please see its investor relations website at https://investor.uti.edu. Conference Call Management will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results for the fiscal 2026 third quarter ended June 30, 2026, on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. ET. To participate in the live call, investors are invited to dial (844) 881-0138 (domestic) or (412) 317-6790 (international). A live webcast of the call will be available via the Universal Technical Institute, Inc. investor relations website at https://investor.uti.edu. Please go to the website at least 10 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. The conference call webcast will be archived for fourteen days at https://investor.uti.edu. Alternatively, the telephone replay can be accessed through August 19, 2026, by dialing (855) 669-9658 (domestic) or (412) 317-0088 (international) and entering passcode 2037119. Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information In addition to disclosing financial results that are determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), the Company also discloses certain non-GAAP financial information in this press release and may similarly disclose non-GAAP financial information on the related conference call. These financial measures are not recognized measures under GAAP and are not intended to be and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company discloses these non-GAAP financial measures because it believes that they provide investors an additional analytical tool to clarify its results of operations and identify underlying trends. Additionally, the Company believes that these measures may also help investors compare its performance on a consistent basis across time periods. Additional details on our non-GAAP measures and the tables reconciling these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are provided below. Adjusted EBITDA: The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for stock-based compensation expense and items not considered normal recurring operations. Adjusted Free Cash Flow: The Company defines adjusted free cash flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures, adjusted for items not considered normal recurring operations. Management utilizes adjusted figures as performance measures internally for operating decisions, strategic planning, annual budgeting and forecasting. For the periods presented, our adjustments for items that management does not consider to be normal recurring operations include: Acquisition-related costs: We have excluded costs associated with both potential and announced acquisitions to allow for comparable financial results to historical operations and forward-looking guidance. Integration-related costs for completed acquisitions: We have excluded integration costs related to business structure realignment and new programs for recent acquisitions to allow for comparable financial results to historical operations and forward-looking guidance. In addition, the nature and amount of such charges vary significantly based on the size and timing of the programs. By excluding the referenced expenses from our non-GAAP financial measures, our management is able to further evaluate our ability to utilize existing assets and estimate their long-term value. Furthermore, our management believes that the adjustment of these items supplements the GAAP information with a measure that can be used to assess the sustainability of our operating performance. Restructuring costs: In May 2026, management approved and implemented phase I of a multi-phase restructuring plan across all segments to simplify how we operate, improve student acquisition and better align our resources behind the highest-return opportunities across the business. Additional phases of this restructuring plan will be rolled out over the next three years as part of our continued focus on optimization and to better align resources to support our overall growth strategy. In December 2023, we announced plans to consolidate the two Houston, Texas campus locations to align the curriculum, student facing systems, and support services to better serve students seeking careers in in-demand fields. As part of the transition, the MIAT Houston campus, acquired in November 2021, began a phased teach-out in May 2024, and such campus began operating under the UTI brand. To obtain a complete understanding of our performance, these measures should be examined in connection with net income (loss) and net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, determined in accordance with GAAP, as presented in the financial statements and notes thereto included in the annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). Because the items excluded from these non-GAAP measures are significant components in understanding and assessing our financial performance under GAAP, these measures should not be considered to be an alternative to net income (loss) or net cash provided by (used in) operating activities as a measure of our operating performance or liquidity. Exclusion of items in the non-GAAP presentation should not be construed as an inference that these items are unusual, infrequent or non-recurring. Other companies, including other companies in the education industry, may define and calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure across similarly titled performance measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is provided below and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliations. Forward Looking Statements All statements contained in this press release and the related conference call, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the safe harbor from civil liability provided for such statements by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (set forth in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). These forward-looking statements which address our expected future business and financial performance, may contain words such as "goal," "target," "future," "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "project," "may," "should," "will," the negative form of these expressions or similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding (1) the Company's expectation that it will meet its fiscal year 2026 guidance for new student start growth, revenue growth, net income, diluted earnings per share, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow; (2) the Company's expectation that it will continue to expand its value proposition and build a business that can grow in double digits with potential upside, regardless of the economic environment; and (3) the Company's expectation that it will succeed in new program launches next year. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on the Company's current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of its business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could affect our actual results include, among other things, failure of our schools to comply with the extensive regulatory requirements for school operations; shifts in higher education laws, regulation and policy at the federal and state levels; our failure to maintain eligibility for or our ability to process federal student financial assistance funds; the effect of current and future Title IV Program regulations arising out of negotiated rulemakings, including any potential reductions in funding or restrictions on the use of funds received through Title IV Programs; the effect of future legislative or regulatory initiatives related to veterans' benefit programs; continued Congressional examination of the for-profit education sector; regulatory investigations of, or actions commenced against, us or other companies in our industry; our failure to execute on our growth and diversification strategy, including effectively identifying, establishing and operating additional schools, programs or campuses; our failure to realize the expected benefits of our acquisitions, or our failure to successfully integrate our acquisitions.; our failure to improve underutilized capacity at certain of our campuses; enrollment declines or challenges in our students' ability to find employment as a result of macroeconomic conditions; our failure to maintain and expand existing industry relationships and develop new industry relationships; our ability to update and expand the content of existing programs and develop and integrate new programs in a timely and cost-effective manner while maintaining positive student outcomes; a loss of our senior management or other key employees; failure to comply with the restrictive covenants and our ability to pay the amounts when due under the credit agreement; the effect of our principal stockholder owning a significant percentage of our capital stock, and thus being able to influence certain corporate matters and the potential in the future to gain substantial control over our company; the effect of public health pandemics, epidemics or outbreak, including COVID-19, and other risks that are described from time to time in our public filings. Further information on these and other potential factors that could affect the financial results or condition may be found in the company's filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements made by us in this press release and the related conference call are based only on information currently available to us and speak only as of the date on which it is made. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, changes in expectations, any changes in events, conditions or circumstances, or otherwise. Social Media Disclosure Universal Technical Institute, Inc uses its websites (https://www.uti.edu/, https://concorde.edu, and https://investor.uti.edu/) and LinkedIn pages (https://www.linkedin.com/school/universal-technical-institute/ and https://www.linkedin.com/school/concorde-career-colleges/) as channels of distribution of information about its programs, its planned financial and other announcements, its attendance at upcoming investor and industry conferences, and other matters. Such information may be deemed material information, and the Company may use these channels to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Therefore, investors should monitor the company's website and its social media accounts in addition to following the company's press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, and webcasts. About Universal Technical Institute, Inc. Founded in 1965, Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) is a national leader in workforce solutions for transportation, skilled trades, healthcare and dental education programs. The company's industry-aligned programs are offered at 35 campuses nationwide and online under the brands Universal Technical Institute (UTI) and Concorde Career Colleges and include auto/diesel, aviation, welding, HVACR, electrical and energy, allied health, dental, nursing, patient care and diagnostic training. For more information, visit www.uti.edu or www.concorde.edu; LinkedIn at @UniversalTechnicalInstitute and @Concorde Career Colleges; or X at @news_UTI and @ConcordeCareer. Company Contact:Matt KemptonVP Corporate Finance & Investor RelationsUniversal Technical Institute, Inc.(623) [email protected] Media Contact:Susan AspeyVice President, Corporate Affairs & External CommunicationsUniversal Technical Institute, Inc.(202) [email protected] Investor Relations Contact:Matt Glover or Ralf EsperGateway Group, Inc.(949) [email protected] (Tables Follow) View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-technical-institute-reports-fiscal-year-2026-third-quarter-results-302844159.html

Grand Canyon Education (LOPE) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.81 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.69 per share. This compares to earnings of $1.53 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items. This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of +7.10%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this for-profit education company would post earnings of $2.78 per share when it actually produced earnings of $2.86, delivering a surprise of +2.88%. Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times. Grand Canyon Education, which belongs to the Zacks Schools industry, posted revenues of $264.05 million for the quarter ended June 2026, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.78%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $247.5 million. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters. The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call. Grand Canyon Education shares have lost about 4.2% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 6.9%. While Grand Canyon Education has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock? There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions. Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Grand Canyon Education was unfavorable. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to underperform the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and the current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.85 on $271 million in revenues for the coming quarter and $10.04 on $1.17 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year. Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Schools is currently in the top 36% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1. Another stock from the same industry, Universal Technical Institute (UTI), has yet to report results for the quarter ended June 2026. The results are expected to be released on August 5. This school for auto, motorcycle and marine technicians is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.01 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -94.7%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. Universal Technical Institute's revenues are expected to be $219.72 million, up 7.6% from the year-ago quarter. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (LOPE) : Free Stock Analysis Report Universal Technical Institute Inc (UTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

PHOENIX, July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) (the "Company"), a leading workforce solutions provider of transportation, skilled trades and healthcare education programs,will hold a conference call on Wednesday, August 5, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time to discuss its financial and operational results for the fiscal third quarter ended June 30, 2026. The Company's CEO, Jerome Grant, and CFO, Bruce Schuman, will host the conference call, followed by a question-and-answer session. Conference Call Date: Wednesday, August 5, 2026Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern timeToll-free dial-in number: 1-844-881-0138International dial-in number: 1-412-317-6790 Please call the conference telephone number 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. The conference call will be broadcast live and available for replay here. A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available after 8:00 p.m. Eastern time on the same day through August 19, 2026. Toll-free replay number: 1-855-669-9658International replay number: 1-412-317-0088Replay ID: 2037119 About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE: UTI) was founded in 1965 and is a leading workforce solutions provider serving students, partners and communities nationwide. The company offers high-quality education and support services for in-demand careers via its two divisions: UTI and Concorde Career Colleges. The UTI division operates 16 campuses located in nine states, with more announced, and offers a wide range of transportation, skilled trades, electrical and energy training programs. Concorde operates across 18 campuses in eight states and online, with more announced, offering programs in the allied health, dental, nursing, patient care and diagnostic fields. For more information, visit www.uti.edu or www.concorde.edu; LinkedIn at @UniversalTechnicalInstitute and @Concorde Career Colleges; or X at @news_UTI and @ConcordeCareer. Investor Relations Contact:Ralf EsperGateway Group, Inc.(949) [email protected] Media Contact:Susan AspeyCorporate AffairsUniversal Technical Institute, Inc.(202) [email protected] View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/universal-technical-institute-inc-to-hold-fiscal-third-quarter-2026-conference-call-on-wednesday-august-5-2026-at-430-pm-et-302825716.html

A month has gone by since the last earnings report for American Public Education (APEI). Shares have lost about 1.1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500. But investors have to be wondering, will the recent negative trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is American Public Education due for a breakout? Well, first let's take a quick look at the latest earnings report in order to get a better handle on the recent catalysts for American Public Education, Inc. before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late. American Public Education reported better-than-expected first-quarter 2026 results, with adjusted earnings and total revenues beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Both the metrics grew year over year. The quarter’s performance was supported by higher Military+ course activity and continued Health+ enrollment gains, helping lift profitability across key metrics. APEI reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 94 cents, up 129.3% year over year, and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 61 cents by 55.1%.Total revenues increased 6.2% year over year to $174.7 million and edged past the consensus estimate of $174 million by 0.5%. Performance was supported by higher Military+ course activity and continued Health+ enrollment gains, helping lift profitability across key metrics. Profitability expanded meaningfully in the quarter as operating performance outpaced cost growth. Adjusted EBITDA increased 37.5% year over year to $29.2 million from $21.2 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin expanded to 17% from 13%, reflecting stronger operating leverage on higher revenues. Total costs and expenses in the first quarter of 2026 were $153.1 million, up 0.5% year over year. Instructional costs and services edged down to $74.6 million from $74.9 million, while selling and promotional expenses increased to $37.9 million from $35.2 million. Performance was supported by growth across both operating segments. Military+ revenues increased 6.5% year over year to $89.4 million, driven by higher registration activity. Segment EBITDA rose to $31.8 million from $25.2 million a year ago, with EBITDA margin expanding to 36% from 30%.Health+ revenues advanced 11% year over year to $85.4 million, reflecting higher enrollment and pricing actions implemented in the second half of 2025. Segment EBITDA improved to $3.2 million from $1.9 million in the year-ago quarter, and EBITDA margin increased to 4% from 2%. Military+ posted approximately 106,600 net course registrations in the quarter, up from roughly 102,500 a year earlier. Management noted the residual impact of the government shutdown remained limited to the U.S. Coast Guard and was resolved late in April, helping keep disruption contained.Health+ total student enrollment increased to about 19,400 from 18,000 in the prior-year quarter. During the period, the company opened a new Rasmussen University campus in Orlando, FL, bringing its Practical Nursing Diploma program to the Orlando market. APEI ended the quarter with total cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash of $221 million, up from $176.5 million at the end of 2025. Cash flows from operations improved sharply, with net cash provided by operating activities increasing 71.1% year over year to $63.3 million.The company also moved to optimize its capital structure and shareholder returns. In March, APEI refinanced its debt, cutting its borrowing rate by 375 basis points at then-current leverage levels and targeting about $3.7 million in annual interest savings excluding debt cost amortization. The board authorized a new share repurchase program of up to $50 million, and the company repurchased 17,840 shares through the end of the first quarter. Following the quarter’s execution, management raised its full-year 2026 guidance for revenues and adjusted EBITDA. The company now expects revenues of $686-$696 million, compared with its prior outlook of $685-$695 million and up from $648.9 million reported in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA is projected in the range of $93-$102 million versus the earlier expectation of $91.5-$100.5 million, reflecting growth from $85.7 million in 2025. Management also increased its EPS guidance to $2.33-$2.68 from the previous range of $2.15-$2.47. The updated outlook implies significant improvement from the earnings of $1.36 per share reported in 2025. Meanwhile, capital expenditures are still expected between $28 million and $32 million, higher than the $15.9 million invested in 2025.For the second quarter of 2026, revenues are expected to be $170-$172 million, with net income available to common stockholders projected at $6.5-$7.5 million. The company also anticipates diluted earnings per share of 34-39 cents, alongside Military+ net registrations of 98,300-100,300 and Health+ enrollment of about 19,600. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the band of $16.5-$18.0 million. It turns out, estimates review have trended downward during the past month. Currently, American Public Education has a great Growth Score of A, though it is lagging a bit on the Momentum Score front with a B. Following the exact same course, the stock has a score of B on the value side, putting it in the top 40% for value investors. Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of A. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in. Estimates have been broadly trending downward for the stock, and the magnitude of these revisions indicates a downward shift. Notably, American Public Education has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months. American Public Education is part of the Zacks Schools industry. Over the past month, Universal Technical Institute (UTI), a stock from the same industry, has gained 4.3%. The company reported its results for the quarter ended March 2026 more than a month ago. Universal Technical reported revenues of $221.4 million in the last reported quarter, representing a year-over-year change of +6.7%. EPS of $0.01 for the same period compares with $0.21 a year ago. Universal Technical is expected to post earnings of $0.01 per share for the current quarter, representing a year-over-year change of -94.7%. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate remained unchanged. The overall direction and magnitude of estimate revisions translate into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for Universal Technical. Also, the stock has a VGM Score of C. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report American Public Education, Inc. (APEI) : Free Stock Analysis Report Universal Technical Institute Inc (UTI) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com). Zacks Investment Research

Universal Technical Institute’s first quarter results aligned with Wall Street’s revenue expectations, as management credited steady demand for both trades and healthcare programs as a key driver. CEO Jerome Grant pointed to a 14% jump in new student starts, underpinned by campus expansions and new program launches. Grant emphasized that “total new student starts increased 14% year over year in the quarter with meaningful contributions from both divisions.” Management also called out operational improvements, such as optimized campus capacity and collaboration between divisions, as supporting factors for continued momentum. Is now the time to buy UTI? Find out in our full research report (it’s free). Revenue: $221.4 million vs analyst estimates of $222.1 million (6.7% year-on-year growth, in line) Adjusted EBITDA: $14.15 million vs analyst estimates of $14.33 million (6.4% margin, 1.3% miss) Operating Margin: 0.2%, down from 8.1% in the same quarter last year New Students: up 919 year on year Market Capitalization: $2.07 billion While we enjoy listening to the management's commentary, our favorite part of earnings calls are the analyst questions. Those are unscripted and can often highlight topics that management teams would rather avoid or topics where the answer is complicated. Here is what has caught our attention. Mike Grondahl (Northland Securities) asked about data center-driven opportunities and new programs. CEO Jerome Grant explained that employers from data centers are increasingly seeking skilled trades graduates, and UTI is responding by aligning programs with these needs. Raj Sharma (Texas Capital) questioned the rise in operating expenses and whether it was mostly marketing-driven. CFO Bruce Schuman replied that margin contraction was largely due to growth investments and some timing-related costs, with confidence in offsetting these in future quarters. Analyst (Lake Street) inquired about the exceptional performance of the San Antonio campus and advertising strategies. Grant responded that demand in Texas exceeded expectations and attributed success to site selection and strong market fundamentals, rather than unique marketing tactics. Jasper Bibb (Truist) sought clarity on whether strong student starts would persist and the impact of students shifting to AI-driven search for opportunities. Grant stated that collaboration between divisions in digital marketing is helping UTI adapt to these trends and maintain momentum. Steve Frankel (Rosenblatt) asked how employer incentives for students are evolving. Grant noted that incentive packages remain robust and are expanding across more industries, supporting student placement and program appeal. Looking forward, our analysts will monitor (1) the performance and enrollment ramp at new campuses like Atlanta and Salt Lake City, (2) execution on program launches in healthcare, robotics, and renewable energy, and (3) the company’s expanding partnerships with industry and workforce organizations. Progress in optimizing legacy campuses and leveraging AI-driven marketing channels will also be key signposts for sustainable growth. Universal Technical Institute currently trades at $37.68, up from $36.96 just before the earnings. In the wake of this quarter, is it a buy or sell? Find out in our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members). ALSO WORTH WATCHING: Top 5 Momentum Stocks. The best time to own a great stock is when the market is finally noticing it. These aren't just high-quality businesses. Something is happening with them right now. Elite fundamentals meeting near-term momentum - both boxes checked at the same time. Find out which stocks our AI platform is flagging this week. See this week's Strong Momentum stocks - FREE. Get Our Strong Momentum Stocks for Free HERE. Stocks that have made our list include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.