Lincoln Educational Services Corporation (NASDAQ:LINC) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Scott Shaw: Yes, I would say that transportation skilled trades still tend to be slightly stronger for us than healthcare. And I mean, one of the exciting parts is, I’ll just throw this out, our automotive business grew by 11%, and we have an open A in new auto programs. So that kind of shows you the underlying strength in these core careers that we’re offering. But overall, to your point, automotive and skilled trades is definitely slightly better than the healthcare sector at this point.

Eric Martinuzzi: Okay. All right. And then your forecast for 2024, what’s kind of the macroeconomic assumptions built in? Because historically, we’ve faced headwinds around interest rates, inflation, unemployment. Is it an assumption that the status quo persists for the rest of the year?

Scott Shaw: Yes. We’re basically based off of what we’re seeing already in the first quarter. And yes, we assume that the economy will be the same. Obviously, I think many people have been surprised at the strength of the economy. Unemployment still remains very low. So if that were to change, I could see that only benefiting us, meaning that unemployment increases. But again, what’s so exciting is the fact that we’re able to get this type of growth in this low unemployment market, which to me suggests there’s been a fundamental shift to our benefit taking place out there.

Operator: I’m showing no further questions at this time. I’d now like to turn it back to Scott Shaw, CEO, for closing remarks.

Scott Shaw: Thank you all for joining us today to listen to our strong performance and progress today. At Lincoln, we all could not be more excited about all of our opportunities and our leadership position to continue to eliminate the skills gap. This most exciting could be what I will refer to as a renaissance of skilled trades. After decades of societal pressure to only go to college, we are seeing and hearing that more and more people are becoming aware of the robust and enduring careers available by working with your hands. For more than 75 years, Lincoln has been solely focused on providing the best hands-on training possible and it’s increasingly feeling that America is getting on board. I want to thank all of our instructors and staff for their steadfast commitment to our students and to our mission of changing lives.

And I hope that you will join us on March 19th at our East Point, Georgia campus for our first ever Investor Day. I’m confident that you will walk away from the event with as much excitement as we have for Lincoln’s future. Thank you all and have a great day.

Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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