Corinthian profit up on enrollment

Higher education company Corinthian Colleges Inc. said quarterly profit rose 39% as the number of new students increased.

Corinthian also said earnings for the 2008 fiscal year would come in at the high end of its previous forecast.

The Santa Ana-based company reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $1.95 million, or 2 cents a share, compared with $1.4 million, or 2 cents, a year earlier.

Income from continuing operations was 5 cents a share, in line with analysts’ average forecast, according to Reuters Estimates. The company had forecast that it would earn 4 cents to 5 cents.

Sales rose 11.5% from last year to $247.5 million, above the $243.4 million analysts had expected.

The total student population at the end of September was up 6.5% from last year, and the number of new students in the company’s continuing operations increased 13%.

For the year, it said it expected earnings before one-time items in fiscal 2008 to be at the high end of its previous forecast of 40 cents to 45 cents a share. It anticipates sales in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.07 billion, with new student start growth of 8% to 9%.

Analysts were expecting earnings of 42 cents on sales of $1.03 billion.

For the second quarter, Corinthian said it expected earnings of 9 cents to 11 cents a share on sales of $265 million to $270 million. It expects new student start growth of 7% to 8%.

Analysts were expecting second-quarter earnings of 11 cents on sales of $260.7 million.

Corinthian shares closed up 31 cents at $15.78.