Guru Heebner Likes Apollo, Corinthian, DeVry, Capella

[Don Dresden]

In these tough financial times one investment guru, Ken Heebner, is putting his money on, among other things, for-profit DL education outfits.  Obviously he thinks they are going to go up in value despite the current economic situation.  He didn't get to be worth $6.9 billion by making a lot of wrong picks.
http://www.gurufocus.com/news.php?id=49288

Ken is a remarkable investor. Although sometime he got it wrong, but he still did very well during the past 20 years. This is what he bought and sold in the 4th quarter of 2008. ... Ken Heebner owns 89 stocks with a total value of $6.9 billion.

New Purchase: Apollo Group Inc. (APOL)
Ken Heebner initiated holdings in Apollo Group Inc.. His purchase prices were between $50.54 and $76.84, with an estimated average price of $68.2. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 3.57%. His holdings were 3,200,000 shares as of 12/31/2008.

Apollo Group Inc. has been providing higher education to working adults for over 25 years. They operate through their subsidiaries the University of Phoenix Inc. the Institute for Professional Development the College for Financial Planning Institutes Corporation Western International University Inc. and Apollo Learning Group Inc. Apollo Group Inc. has a market cap of $13.28 billion; its shares were traded at around $81.45 with a P/E ratio of 26.67 and P/S ratio of 4.23. Apollo Group Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 29.1% over the past 10 years. GuruFocus rated Apollo Group Inc. the business predictability rank of 4-star.
...
New Purchase: Corinthian Colleges Inc. (COCO)
Ken Heebner initiated holdings in Corinthian Colleges Inc.. His purchase prices were between $12.14 and $16.08, with an estimated average price of $14.4. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.1%. His holdings were 403,000 shares as of 12/31/2008.

Corinthian Colleges Inc. is one of the largest post-secondary education companies in North America operating colleges in states in the U.S. and seven provinces in Canada. The Company's mission is to help students prepare for careers that are in demand or to advance in their chosen career. Corinthian offers diploma programs and associate's bachelor's and master's degrees in a variety of fields concentrating on careers in health care business criminal justice transportation maintenance trades and technology. Corinthian Colleges Inc. has a market cap of $1.81 billion; its shares were traded at around $21.06 with a P/E ratio of 40.79 and P/S ratio of 1.7. Corinthian Colleges Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 11% over the past 10 years.

New Purchase: DeVry Inc. (DV)
Ken Heebner initiated holdings in DeVry Inc.. His purchase prices were between $44.42 and $58.28, with an estimated average price of $53.2. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.09%. His holdings were 105,000 shares as of 12/31/2008.

DeVry Inc. owns and operates DeVry Institutes of Technology DenverTechnical College Keller Graduate School of Management and Becker Conviser CPA Review. DeVry Institutes DeVry Canada Inc. Denver TechnicalCollege and Keller Graduate School of Management are a part of DeVryUniversity. DeVry Institutes and Keller Graduate School collectively formone of the largest private degree-granting regionally accredited highereducation systems in North America. Becker prepares candidates for theCPA CMA and CFA professional certification examinations. DeVry Inc. has a market cap of $4.13 billion; its shares were traded at around $56.12 with a P/E ratio of 29.42 and P/S ratio of 3.78. The dividend yield of DeVry Inc. stocks is 0.28%. DeVry Inc. had an annual average earning growth of 4.3% over the past 10 years.
...
New Purchase: Capella Education Company (CPLA)
Ken Heebner initiated holdings in Capella Education Company. His purchase prices were between $37.18 and $59.86, with an estimated average price of $50.2. The impact to his portfolio due to this purchase was 0.04%. His holdings were 52,000 shares as of 12/31/2008.

CAPELLA EDUCATION COMPANY is a pioneer in developing high quality online degree programs for adults. Their programs are delivered through its wholly owned subsidiary They has an accredited online academic institution. Their university is known for its rigorous curricula that combine strong academic content and real world practicality presented in a flexible online format geared for adult students. Capella Education Company has a market cap of $981.9 million; its shares were traded at around $59.48 with a P/E ratio of 38.51 and P/S ratio of 4.34.

[Dennis Ruhl]

Do real schools ever hire doctorates from schools like Capella, Northcentral. Nova Southeastern, and Union that produce hundreds of doctorates each year instead of the dozens at brick and mortar schools? Why would they?

Perhaps the time has come, because everyone can be a doctor, to rely on contributions to the field as an absolute selection criteria leaving the doctorate as simply a box to tick.

[Geoff Vankirk]

The for profit schools do an adequate job at the bachelors and masters level. Their degrees are sub standard when they start awarding PhD and other doctorate degrees. I don't think that they are the big career booster in either teaching or business that people thought they would be.

[Albert Hidel]

I don't think that they are the big career booster in either teaching or business that people thought they would be.

You may be right about that, but they are definitely big ego boosters, and there is something to be said for that. A Chevy gets you to the grocery store just as good as a Cadillac, but the Caddy traditionally says "I got more money than I can spend!" Although in many cases the doctoral only says, "I need a piece of paper to convince people I know anything."

[ham]

Perhaps the time has come, because everyone can be a doctor, to rely on contributions to the field as an absolute selection criteria leaving the doctorate as simply a box to tick.

you can evaluate a contribution only if you've examined it and are competent to do so.
Academia?
It's like mafia...
Forget about research caliber...everything matters but the actual outcome.
Ward Churchill, Joel Hayward, Norman Finkelstein, David Irving are all cogent examples...
Finkelstein fell from the prominent position of 'well-respected Jewish scholar' to that of apostate and dangerous outcast...his tenure terminated, his character assassinated...
Self-proclaimed part-Jew Hayward saw his career in jeopardy and his publishing agreements in unrelated fields terminated when the public learnt he had published a 'revisionist' M.A dissertation...dissertation he had embargoed himself and never promoted, nor discussed.
Irving is a monster irrespective of any scholarship.
Embarrassing and 'intolerable' 'glitches' were suddenly discovered not only in Churchill's copious opus, but in his own persona as well (an impostor and not an Indian as he claimed )...that five years AFTER he published an unknown pamphlet pushing the 'wrong' ideas...
Is then academic publishing the sanctuary of freedom or rather the offspring of old times' church imprimatur?
People like Hayward were forced to recant...in turn their 'confession' or recantation was used against them as proof their foes had been right all along...
For example Hayward's university refused to terminate his M.A degree because due procedure had been followed...then Hayward recanted so his foes used that confession to argue that the only logic step was to terminate a degree based on premises (dissertation) the very owner then admitted to be *** (sorry, wrong, whatever ) about writing...see?

You'll see scholarly publishing LOOOOOOONG on certain subjects and VERY SHORT or totally lacking on others...
Besides, read ten scholarly 'reviews' of the same item and you may as well find people who extol its virtues to heaven, and others who consider it a wreck...typically along the 'party line' of publishers and authors...

[Dennis Ruhl]

It appears that the prime motivator at universities is economic freedom, not academic freedom. While it is obvious to me there was a deliberate slaughter of Jewish European populations during WWI, the reactions of academics, judges and lawmakers around the world is totally bizarre. Academia is supposed to be all about challenging theories. You do your research, then state your case. If its horse crap, everyone lets you know by presenting their argument, not by gutteral emotional reaction. I don't know that it applies in this case but usually the weaker the case, the higher the level of emotion. A system that cannot withstand challenges to its established positions is impotent.

One other established "FACT" seems to be the religion of global warming. Scientists, especially those in the area of physics and meteorolgy, have had their research and opinions torn apart by global warming experts from other fields who maybe aren't experts at all. Again the criticism is on an emotional level. This is all irrelevant now because it is now called climate change so if the temperature actually goes down as in the last couple years, it's still caused by CO2.

[ham]

It appears that the prime motivator at universities is economic freedom, not academic freedom. While it is obvious to me there was a deliberate slaughter of Jewish European populations during WWI, the reactions of academics, judges and lawmakers around the world is totally bizarre.

Anyone who says Jews were not a prime target is a fool.
However, Acadians (French settlers in Atlantic Canada) were rounded up and deported by the English in 1755-63; a significant percentage of them died in transit and those who remained were chased under laws rewarding Indian scalps: all of this in print of the time & documented. Only in 2003 did the British crown 'recognize' it...the proclamation says

Whereas the deportation of the Acadian people, commonly known as the Great Upheaval, continued until 1763 and had tragic consequences,
including the deaths of many thousands of Acadians – from disease, in shipwrecks, in their places of refuge and in prison camps in Nova Scotia and
England as well as in the British colonies in America;

So according to officialdom they all died of disease and so forth...no deliberate drowning, no scalps taken...
Try applying the same 'recognition level' to WWII and you'll have bellyaching lawyers imperiously demanding their pound of flesh by the hundreds, while emotionally devastated press demands special laws and the European parliament probably finds overwhelming consensus to pass an edict to the effect...

The final admonition to Acadians is "We hope that the Acadian people can turn the page on this dark chapter of their history;"=get over it...
Try imagining what cataclysm would cause addressing a similar official proclamation to other groups struck by similar terrifying events...

The worldwide rule of a certain interpretation was once explained by no other than German PM Schmidt. I think he said that then Federal Germany (and the whole post-WWII order per extenso ) lied its foundation on a received interpretation of WWII and its legacy. Any attempt not to discredit such axioms completely, but only to alter the received version would instantly deprive countries such as Germany (Italy, France, Japan...) of their legitimacy...

[Fort Bragg]

You obviously have a better grasp of Acadian history but the Acadian plight should be put in a larger context. The Acadians refused to sign a British loyalty oath. The French army at Fort Beausejour paid for British scalps and enlisted willing Acadians in their service. They simply bet on the wrong horse.

The French in Quebec and their Indian allies spent 150 years attacking settlements in New England. They even killed a couple of my direct ancestors. When Fort William Henry surrendered to the French, they did not protect the prisoners from attack and death by Indians.

While the Acadians may claim they were too busy smelling roses and tripping over daisies to have any warlike thoughts, I suspect they would have gleefully danced on British graves.

I've met tons of Acadians and they're all very fine people. Exactly how many le Blancs are there in the Moncton phone book?

[ham]

You obviously have a better grasp of Acadian history but the Acadian plight should be put in a larger context.  The Acadians refused to sign a British loyalty oath.  The French army at Fort Beausejour paid for British scalps and enlisted willing Acadians in their service.  They simply bet on the wrong horse.

The French in Quebec and their Indian allies spent 150 years attacking settlements in New England.  They even killed a couple of my direct ancestors.  When Fort William Henry surrendered to the French, they did not protect the prisoners from attack and death by Indians.

While the Acadians may claim they were too busy smelling roses and tripping over daisies to have any warlike thoughts, I suspect they would have gleefully danced on British graves.

I've met tons of Acadians and they're all very fine people.  Exactly how many le Blancs are there in the Moncton phone book?

Acadians were referred to as "French neutrals" because that is what they were...and they refused the 'serment du test' because it included elements contrary to the catholic faith.
It is also not exact to claim there was no oath to the English crown: there was one, but not to the satisfaction of the English.
If the neutrality of the bulk of people is questioned, the French too considered to deport them because they were neutrals.
Under this pretext Acadians were restricted in or barren from retaining or exercising property rights for a long time.
For your information 1755 takes place AFTER the English had received formal possession of Canada.

http://acadian-home.org/18thCen-Newspapers.html

March 26, 1759
Boston Evening Post

Extract of a Letter from Fort Frederick, St. John’s.

The 5th of March Lieut. Hazzen of the Rangers came in from a Scout of 15 Days, with a Party of 16 Rangers, up the River St. John’s; he brought in with him six French Scalps and six Prisoners. Lieut. Hazzen reports, that he has been to St. Anne’s, which is 140 Miles up this River, from Fort Frederick, to where it was expected he would have found a strong Garrison of the Enemy; but on his Arrival he found the Town vacated, which he set Fire to, burnt a large Mass-House with a Bell of about 300 lb. A large Storehouse, and many valuable Buildings, amounting in the whole to 147, together with a large Quantity of Hay, Wheat, Pease, Oats, &c. kill’d 21 Horses, about 50 Head of Cattle, a Number of Hogs, &c. and that he took the Prisoners and Scalps with 11 of his Party, on his Return near Grimnoss, which is about 85 Miles from this Place, who give an Account that a Number of the Enemy live six Miles back of Grimnoss, and that the Inhabitants of St. Ann’s are chiefly gone to Canada, the Remainder scattered in the Woods : He was pursued by about 30 or 40 of the enemy, but not overtaken, and that he found a large new Schooner up this River which was taken lately by the French from Capt. Grow, he brought one Horse with him to Fort Frederick, where he arrived in good Health without the Loss of one Man.

Governor Lawrence's proclamation may 14, 1756 offered 30 pounds reward for every scalp.


But the point is not that...
Do you feel like making the same statement you made about Acadians here (=they somewhat had it coming ) inserting some other 'special group' victim of the same treatment in the place of Acadians?
If so, on which ground?
If not so, why?

[ham]

I promise and swear by my Faith as a Christian that I will be entirely faithful and will truly obey His Majesty King George II, whom I acknowledge as the sovereign lord of Acadia or Nova Scotia, so help me God.

in the 1730s.

This was the oath taken, with the provision of not being required to bear arms against other Frenchmen, which was pretty reasonable...I wouldn't have equipped Frenchmen to fight their kind even under agreement, for it could ricochet.