Stride, Inc.

Good afternoon and welcome to the Stride fourth quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. Please note that this call is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star, then the number one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, press star one again. I will now turn the call over to Timothy Casey, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin your conference.

Thank you, and good afternoon. Welcome to Stride's fourth quarter and year-end earnings call for fiscal 2024. With me on today's call are James Rue, Chief Executive Officer, and Donna Blackman, Chief Financial Officer. As a reminder, today's conference call and webcast are accompanied by a presentation that can be found on the Stride Investor Relations website. Please be advised that today's discussion of our financial results may include certain non-GAAP financial measures. A recommendation of these measures is provided in the earnings release issued this afternoon and can also be found on our investor relations website. In addition to historical information, this call may also involve forward-looking statements. The company's actual results could differ materially from any forward-looking statements due to several important factors as described in the company's latest SEC file. These statements are made on the basis of our views and assumptions regarding future events and business performance at the time we make them. and the company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements made during this call. Following our prepared remarks, we will answer any questions you may have. I will now turn this call over to James. James?

Thanks, Tim, and good afternoon, everyone. I started this year by talking about my belief that stride can change the future of education. I outlined some of the macro trends in our country precipitating the need for change. Throughout the year, we've continued to see these trends play out. High parent dissatisfaction, and surveys showing over 70% of families considering changing schools over the past 12 months. And we continue to see students reconsidering the traditional college pathway in favor of a more skills-based education. I think that the results we posted for this year demonstrate and validate the longevity of our model. We are delivering tomorrow's education today. Students and families are looking for something different. and finding it at stride. We're providing real choice for families, choice that is affordable and accessible to anyone, anywhere, and at any time. Our offerings are personalized, career-forward, and tech-driven. And that translated into another record year. We crossed $2 billion in revenue for the first time. We had record profitability and free cash flow. Earnings per share increased 58% year over year and has now grown almost 700% since 2020. We achieved our highest gross margin in over five years. We had our highest in-year enrollment ever, pushing us to the highest enrollment level in the company's history, even larger than during the pandemic highs. And we finished the year with more enrollments than we started. for the second straight year. As I mentioned last year, even with our strong results, including multiple years of near or above double-digit revenue growth, continued margin expansion, and an attractive future growth profile, our valuation multiples still lag the market. In addition, the market continues to recognize our superior product and service offerings. Stride was named the EdTech Breakthrough Remote Learning Solution Provider of the Year. Our med certs programs won a bronze medal for best use of AI in health tech from the Merit Awards. Our game-based learning offerings won almost too many awards to list, including the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry Horizon Prize for our periodic rescue game in Minecraft, a gold Stevie for our Minecraft Education Worlds game, two bronze Stevies, one each for our Math B and ELL World Language Games, and our professional development offerings won two gold Stevies. We also continue to see early traction with our other new product offerings, including our tutoring solution, which gained formal acceptance across a number of states. Now, I understand everybody wants some color on our fall enrollment season. Please remember that it is still early, and we have a long way to go to close out the season strong. Having said that, early indicators look positive. Demand, as I have said before, we define as application volumes, continue to be strong. and are pacing ahead of last year, consistent with the pacing we have seen for much of the prior year. So I feel confident that we will grow our enrollment for this fall, and we remain on track for our long-term goals. All of this demonstrates what I started my comments with, that Stride is offering tomorrow's education today. Now I'll pass the call to Donna. Donna?