DeVry General Analysis Continued......

DeVry General Analysis Continued.......

Enrollment

Since 2007 the number of undergraduate students attending DeVry University has increased from appoximately 37,000 in July 2007 to around 68,000 in July 2011. Graduate studies have also seen an increase in the same time period from 13,000 to 21,000 students. These increases have been driven primarily by the explosion of online coursetakers which increased from 29,000 to 70,000 individuals. While DeVry University is the staple of DeVry Inc, DeVry's other offerings as mentioned in the previous post have also had success at varying levels.

While DeVry University has seen an explosion in its class size, it is not without competition. Post high school education is greatly fragmented with goverment funded state schools and community colleges being able to offer similiar offerings to that of DeVry at discounted prices, and private schools being able to offer prestige and niche offerings not necessarily offered by DeVry. However, DeVry has been able to carve out its own framework in this competitive market by focusing on the following strengths:

Career Oriented Cirriculum - based on the needs of students.
Name Recognition - through its large scale marketing efforts.
Flexibility and Convenience of classes - by having both brick and mortar and online options.
Speed of Degree - usually able to be completed in 3 yrs vs the typical 4 yr degree.

Devry, Inc (DV) 10-K - General Operations

The following information is based upon a read of the Devry, Inc.'s 10-k:

General Business Operations -

Devry, Inc is comprised of various for-profit education institutions including -

Devry University - regionally accredited university which offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in technology, science, business, and the arts, with graduate degrees in business being offered by the school's Keller Graduate School of Management.

Ross University - this university provides medicial and veternary education with the School of Medicine being located in Dominica and the School of Veternary Medicine being located in Saint Kitts.

Chamberlan College of Nursing - with 7 campuses in the US this college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing.

Carrington Colleges Group - this colleges group prepares students for jobs in healthcare.

Becker Professional Education - this extension of Devry offers preperation classes for the CPA, CFA and PMP exams, as well as continuing education in accounting in finance. Classes are taught at over 300 locations in the US incluing 40 countries.

Advanced Academics - provides online learning solutions for middle school and high school students.

Devry Brasil - includes three colleges and 5 campuses in Brasil whcih offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in business management, law and engineering

Education Mix -

As of the Fall 09 Enrollment Period approximately 51% of the company's enrollment came from Bachelors Degree programs by far the largest segement of enrollment for the company. However, since 2007 enrollment in associates and certificate programs have increased from 10.5% to 27%, indicating a shift in strategy for DeVry, Inc, which has enhanced its focus on those individuals looking more for a practical short-term educational experience to become workforce ready.

This shift can also be seen in type of programs which individuals are enrolling in, with 29% of the students enrolling in medicine and health related programs up from 12% in 2007. 27% enroll in technology and 43% enroll in business programs, still the company's largest segmant.

To be continued...........

Coverage Initiated - DeVry, Inc. Common Stock

Rating: Buy
Price at time of Rating: $41.30

As part of my effort to stick with and spend a quality amount of time analyzing only a small number of investments, and particularly at this time only one investment. I have decided to intiate and soley cover one stock at this time. I will continually update this site with the amount of research performed on the stock and updated information regarding the stock. At this time I give a BUY rating to DeVry, Inc. At the time of this rating the stock is at $41.30. At this time I have spent limited time studying this particular stock, although I have been reviewing the recent news regarding student loan repayment rates at for-profit colleges and performed signficant analysis back approximately 5 years on for-profit higher education industry.

During my next post I will review the recently issued financial statements for DeVry, Inc.