Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (COCO)

Zacks Rank 1-StrongBuy, Recommend Neutral, Industry Rank 49 / 217, Target 16.80, Avg of 15 analysts 23.36

With a 10.2% unemployment many people will be going back to school to retrain or to start a different career, I think COCO will do were during this period.

Proprietary schools primarily compete against community colleges. In several large states, major cuts to this form of public education are anticipated for the fall semester, set to start Aug/Sept. With so many core courses over crowded, students will look for alternate ways to continue toward their degrees. The private non profit university that I work for anticipates a major increase in enrollment primarily from community college students in need of GE units to fulfill the IGETC requiremet.

TMF hates it, and since they are usually dead wrong (Cramer like) I'll go for it. Look at the charts man... do you think the USA is coming out of this tail-spin anytime soon?

Underperform

Schools like these are a joke, and will go away now that the easy credit spigot is turned off. After charging people outrageous rates for the same education one could get at any community college for 20% of the price, I hope all of the management is stricken with painful and debilitating nipple infections. Shameful bastards.

Not a well managed company whose price has held up under investor's perceptions of it being a recession-proof business. This will prove untrue as in-house lending negatively impacts their bottom line.

Their $100m subprime loan business will do them in. Yep, you read that right. After SLM told COCO earlier in 2008 that it would no longer lend to subprime borrowers, COCO put together their own $100m subprime business for which they assume all default risks. Worst of all, they put this business together in a matter of six weeks and are currently in the process of "learning as they go," according to management. Furthermore, the return on investment for their programs is terrible. People graduate with thousands of dollars in loans, part of which carry interest rates in the teens, and make between $15-20 an hour on average. This is a desperate company preying on desperate individuals. The CEO himself says the company's primary focus is on fundamentally subprime borrowers and the unemployed. Take a look at their pending litigation -- incredible. They caught a lot of legal heat in 2007, one from the California AG, and the feds raided their Florida schools in October. Funny thing is, a few weeks after the raids they changed their Florida program's name to "Everest College."

I've lost money here over the last 5 years, but I think they are in good shape going forward. Recent increases in federal loan limits will not hurt.

Corinthian colleges has been sued for dishonesty toward its students. I know people who currently work for this company and have in the past. Good service to students is not their hallmark. Listening to their frontline employees is not their hallmark. Their goal is to make glossy promises and get the customers money and run. Also, they are selling off schools. Overall, private sector schools are crooked and treat their employees like crap. They vastly overcharge students and their parents. It is just a matter of time before the government hears enough complaints and makes some tougher laws to protect consumers.

they are soooooooo cyclical,,they are at their lows now,, as soon as the kids start back to school, and the money flows in,, they will be back in the 15 buck range, ,then down again around December. So,, buy in in May-June, sell by Oct - Nov..

Corintian College is in a nice trend and at $9 with a 52 week high of $18 this should be a real nice trade!

People often choose to go back to school when the economy's growth slows, and Corinthian Colleges Inc seems primed to benefit from the upcoming recession. With programs in business, trades, and especially the medical fields, they will easily attract workers looking to be retrained. With multiple locations in CA and FL, all those failing real estate agents will soon be on their way to a new career... with Corinthian Colleges!

ANY EDUCATION STOCK IS A GOOD PLAY IMO, because the US has to educate all the workers who will lose their jobs due to globalization. With China and India producing prodigies and geniuses left and right, the US will need to concentrate on education to get our competitive edge back.

A solid firms or quality corporation likes

to be best in market share. If Proctor & Gamble

can not they sell the under performing segment.

No different for Corinthian College Inc.When

you John come lately bandwagoners see the big

picture 18 months from now and see COCO @ 22 to

23 dollars a share.Ride out the market and believe in education. Remember you heard it 1st

from wallerdearborn62. Steve Q. and Peter

Waller will make you BELIEVERS!!!

This company admits students primarily who have not done well academically. Some of these students do not have the skills to be in classes so that they become bad debt risk and also bad PR for the company. Admission recruiters want to meet their goals so that they will get any warm body they can convince to enroll. The assessment test helps students to get financial aid but it has nothing to do with how well these students can do in their academic programs. The market is narrow minded in looking at only admissions because if students do not graduate they do not get jobs and they do not pay bills. This company is not geared primarily toward education but enhancing the bottom line playing a numbers game which has ethical problems. Just look at why the Department of Education has raided the Florida schools. The company harms students to try to make the bottom line look good. The numbers do not reflect the phony quality.

Neither as classy nor as well-managed as its chief rival, the Apollo Group.