Perdoceo Education Corporation

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. My name is Bhavesh and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Badosio Education Corporation third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Thank you. I will now hand the call over to David Snyder with Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Thanks, Bhavesh. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter 2023 earnings call. With me on the call today is Todd Nelson, Executive Chairman, Andrew Hurst, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Ashish Gia, Chief Financial Officer. This conference call is being webcast live within the investor relations section at ProdocioED.com. A webcast replay will also be available on our site, and you can always contact the Alpha IR Group for investor relations support. Let me remind you that this afternoon's earnings release and the remarks made today include forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to produce your education and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results. It differs materially from those expressed in or implied by these statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to those factors identified in Prodocio's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2022, and subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as expressly required by the securities laws, the company undertakes no obligation to update those factors or any forward-looking statements to reflect your events, developments, or change circumstances, or for any other reason. In addition, today's remarks refer to non-GAAP financial measures, which are intended to supplement but not substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measures. The earnings release that accompanies today's call contains financial and other quantitative information to be discussed today, as well as a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures. and is available within the investor relations page of the company's website. With that, I would like to turn the call over to CEO Andrew Hurst.

Andrew? Thank you, Davis, and good afternoon to everyone joining us on this call. I would like to begin by saying thank you to our faculty, student support staff, and all our other employees for their continued dedication in educating and serving our students. Third quarter operating results exceeded our internal expectations as we experienced further improvements in student retention and engagement. We have continued to execute on our operational priorities and remain focused on further improving student experiences and academic outcomes. Let me review some of the key operational highlights and updates from the quarter. First, Student retention and engagement has continued to improve at our academic institutions. An increasing percentage of our enrollments are benefiting from the operational adjustments we've implemented to refine our student enrollment and marketing procedures, enabling them to have a better chance of being successful at one of our academic institutions. Second, we also continue to invest in and leverage technology to enhance academic experiences for our students. and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of various student support functions. We are exploring various ways where we can apply generative AI to back office operations as well as student support processes and the online classroom. We continue to view technology as a catalyst and differentiator for us and are committed to further investing in it to provide a more meaningful and relevant educational experience for our learners. Finally, in the third quarter, we continue to experience further growth in our corporate partnership program, as our teams support organizations around the country to provide debt-free education and training to their employees. Now let me provide a quick overview of our operating results for the quarter. We reported third quarter debt income of $41.3 million, or 62 cents per diluted share. while adjusted earnings per diluted share, which excludes certain significant and non-cash items, was 64 cents. Overall, we are pleased with the quarterly results and expect to end the year on a high note as it relates to student retention and engagement. With that said, I would now like to turn the call over to Ashish for a deeper review of our operating performance for the quarter. Ashish?