By Josée Rose

Adtalem Global Education Chief Executive Steve Beard is looking at 2025 as an opportunity for growth, despite political and economic uncertainty.

The head of the healthcare education company said Adtalem is looking to invest in the organic growth of its education business, particularly in nursing, its largest area of focus. "We think we already have the best mouse trap out there," he said. "I'd rather grow that than buy someone else's mouse trap."

Nursing in particular is an attractive segment. "Both interest in the profession and demand on the part of employers for nurses remains robust, and we expect it to for the foreseeable future," he said. But he's open to considering acquisition in other education areas. Adtalem plans to "be thoughtful shoppers as those opportunities come to market," Beard said.

Overall, Beard said demand is strong on the consumer side from prospective students. The company is also getting "wonderful demand from the employers in the form of the providers and payers."

Adtalem, which enrolls over 90,000 students across five main campuses in the U.S. and offers degrees from bachelor's to doctoral, focuses on non-traditional students who mainly are working adults, career switchers or part-time students looking to get into healthcare.

Beard said that due to severe shortages of healthcare workers, the company's business can benefit from workers looking to make a career change. "Our programs are attractive in any [economic] cycle," he said.

Beard remains hopeful the new White House will be a business-friendly administration. "It's hard to remember that it's still pretty early days, just given the pace of the activity," he said. "We've got a lot more of this administration ahead of us than we do behind us. And for that reason, I think there's still, there's still reason to be optimistic about where this goes."

Beard is also open to partnering more with healthcare providers to meet their needs--many hospitals in the U.S. already send their employees to Adtalem for higher education training--through co-locating a school on a medical campus, or a major hospital setting like Mount Sinai. "Are there ways that we can creatively join forces to meet their workforce needs in a way that feels more proprietary to them?"

Adtalem in January said fiscal second-quarter earnings rose to $1.98 a share from 98 cents a share a year earlier, as revenue increased to $447.7 million from $393.2 million a year earlier. Total student enrollment rose 11.6% to 91,264, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Looking ahead, for fiscal 2025, the company had said it expects revenue of $1.73 billion to $1.76 billion and adjusted earnings between $6.10 to $6.30 a share. For fiscal 2024, Adtalem reported revenue of $1.58 billion and adjusted earnings of $5.01 a share.

Write to Josée Rose

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 01, 2025 10:11 ET (15:11 GMT)

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