Education Services

Piper Jaffray analysts initiated research coverage on Strayer Education (NASDAQ: STRA) with a Neutral rating and $144 price target, saying that the shares are full valued. They wrote, "a premium valuation relative to the sector suggests limited near-term upside in the shares." STRA has been in free...

Piper Jaffray initiated shares of ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) at Neutral on Wednesday. The firm has a $60 price target on the stock, which is based on 5x 2011E EPS. The company faces considerable regulatory overhangs, and the analysts cited this as the reason for their cautious view....

Piper Jaffray is out with several research reports this afternoon, where it assumes coverage on the for-profit education space. The analysts are generally negative on the sector with no Overweight Ratings in the sector. Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) and Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UIT...

Piper Jaffray has a Neutral rating and $69 price target on shares of Capella Education (NASDAQ: CPLA). In the research report, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are assuming coverage of Capella Education with a Neutral rating and a $69 12-month price target. Capella shares command a rich valuation premium...

Piper Jaffray is out with a research report this afternoon, where it assumes shares of Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) with a Neutral rating, from Overweight; it has a $46.00 price target on the stock, down from $54.00. The PJ analysts said that they like the proactive steps Apollo is taking to...

Piper Jaffray is initiating coverage on shares of American Public (NASDAQ: APEI) with a Neutral rating, and a $27 price target. In the research report, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are assuming coverage of American Public Education with a Neutral rating and a $27 12-month price target. With a...

ChinaEdu Corp.’s (CEDU) share price has entered into oversold territory with a stochastic value of 16.59. The Zacks Consensus Estimate on the company’s earnings for 2010 increased 2 cents over the past month to 36 cents per share. ChinaEdu is a Zacks #2 Rank (“Buy”) company. CHINAEDU CP-ADR (CEDU...

It's back to school for many people across the U.S., and for-profit education stocks definitely have the back to school blues. ITT Educational Services (NYSE: ESI) is down 3.52%. Career Education Corp. (NASDAQ: CECO) is down 3.70%. Apollo Group (NASDAQ: APOL) is down 0.64%. Strayer Education (...

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE: GD) was downgraded by Goldman from “buy” to “neutral.” GD’s shares closed at $59.72 on Friday. GD’s earnings are likely to fall by 0.15% this year. BofA/Merrill downgraded Holly Energy Partners LP (NYSE: HEP) from "buy" to "neutral." HEP’s shares closed at $50.62...

August was ugly for most market sectors – the dollar may have been the only safe place.  One group of stocks bludgeoned in a particularly nasty way was U.S. for-profit education stocks. Companies like Apollo Group (APOL), Corinthian Colleges (COCO) and Strayer Education (STRA) were first hammered...

Noah Education Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: NED) reported disappointing 4Q results due to its struggle to fix its ELP business distribution channel problems, Oppenheimer reports. EPS was down $0.32, below Oppenheimer's estimate of $0.03, thanks to significantly lower ELP revenue (-72% y/y), negative gross...

Shares of Strayer Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) are crashing lower today, currently off by 10.61%, trading at $142.15. The stock continues to slide, coming of from a recent high near $250.00. The stock continue to see pressure after U.S. Department of Education showed students are paying back...

Strayer Education, Inc. (NASDAQ: STRA) is down 9% this afternoon, after hedge fund titan Steven Eisman made his short position very public. The stock is trading lower by $14.39, to $144.64. According to a Bloomberg report, "Eisman, who according to “The Big Short” by Michael Lewis was one of the...

K12 Inc.’s (LRN) MACD indicator has moved into bearish territory with a reading of -0.0425. The Zacks #4 Rank (“Sell”) declined nearly 1% to $24.85 in morning trade. The Zacks Consensus Estimate on the company’s earnings for the year ending June 2011 edged down a penny over the past 2 months to 83...

Cogent Inc (NASDAQ: COGT) rose 18.90% to $10.60 in the pre-market session. 3M Co (NYSE: MMM) has agreed to purchase COGT for more than $900 million or $10.50 per share, representing an 18% premium to COGT’s closing price on Friday. Genzyme Corporation (NASDAQ: GENZ) added 4.26% to $70.50 in pre-...