ITT Educational Drops After Enrollment Decline Hurts Revenue

ITT Educational Services Inc. (ESI), a for-profit college company with a technology focus, fell to its lowest price in almost 12 years after reporting a fourth-quarter loss and a drop in new enrollment.

The shares tumbled 13 percent to $12.44 at 10:22 a.m. in New York after declining to $11.69, the lowest intraday since Jan. 26, 2001. The stock had lost 78 percent of its value in the 12 months through yesterday.

ITT today reported a quarterly net loss of $9.47 million, or 41 cents a share, compared with net income of $76 million, or $2.87, a year earlier. Sales at the Carmel, Indiana-based company slid 18 percent to $300.8 million as new enrollment declined 11 percent to 13,398.

For-profit colleges, once among the fastest-growing U.S. industries, are closing campuses as scrutiny over their sales tactics to students and competition from state university online programs hurt enrollment and drive down stock prices.

To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Lisa Wolfson at lwolfson@bloomberg.net