DeVry Expands in Nursing Education

Diversified education provider DeVry Inc.’s ( DV - Analyst Report ) Chamberlain College of Nursing has recently entered into a collaboration with The Honor Society of Nursing of Sigma Theta Tau International – a non profit organization that works with nurses across the world – to establish the Center for Excellence in Nursing Education.

The Center for Excellence in Nursing Education will support nurse educators by offering career guidance, resources related to nursing education and Emerging Educational Administrator Program. The Center, with its volunteer advisory board of 10 nurse leaders, will design nursing programs to promote nursing education across the world.

The introduction of the nursing education model is in response to the growing demand for certified nurses. The Center for Excellence in Nursing Education intends to provide the necessary infrastructure and support in order to bridge the demand and supply gap in the number of trained nurses.

DeVry witnessed solid new enrollment growth in Chamberlain College of Nursing and in other institutions like Carrington Colleges in the first quarter of fiscal 2013, owing to strong demand for medical courses. Total enrollments increased 20.2% at the Chamberlain College of Nursing and 2.1% at DeVry Medical International. Medical and Healthcare segment revenue grew 7.4% year over year in the quarter, driven by solid new enrollment growth.

Continued progress on its performance improvement plan to align costs, enrollment growth and growth investments helped the company to deliver better-than-expected results in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The first quarter results were a turnaround from the past few weak quarterly results, thus justifying the short-term buy rating.

DeVry, a peer of Apollo Group ( APOL - Analyst Report ) , carries a Zacks #2 Rank in the near term (Buy rating). Currently, we have a Neutral recommendation on DeVry.