Linc — Call Transcript 2026

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the fourth quarter 2025 Lincoln Educational Services Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you would need to press * 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Polyviou. Please go ahead. Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, everyone. Before the market opened today, Lincoln Educational Services issued a news release recording financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025, as well as recent corporate developments. The release is available on the investor relations portion of the company's corporate website at www.lincolntech.edu. Joining us today on the call are Scott Shaw, CEO and President, and Brian Meyers, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Today's call is being recorded and is being broadcast live on the company's website. A replay of the call will be archived on the company's website as well. Statements made by Lincoln's management on today's call regarding the company's business that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as the term is identified in federal securities laws. The words may, will, expect, believe, anticipate, project, plan, intend, estimate, and continue, as well as similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance. The company cautions you that these statements reflect certain expectations about the company's future performance or events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, risks, and other influences, many of which are beyond the company's control, and may influence the accuracy of the statement and projection upon which the segmented statements are based. Factors that may affect the company's results include, excuse me, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Risk Factors section of the annual report on Form 10-K and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and management's good faith belief as of the time with respect to future events. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Lincoln undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date thereof. One other housekeeping matter. During the Q&A portion of the call today, we would ask questions to limit themselves to 2 questions and then we ask any additional questions. In advance, we thank you for your cooperation. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Scott Shaw, CEO and President. Scott, please go ahead. Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to recap our exceptional fourth quarter and full year operating and financial performance, as well as introduce our guidance for 2026. Lincoln Tech is riding the building interest across America in skilled trades training as employer demand for skilled workers continues to exceed supply, and the public's questioning of the value of the traditional four-year college education continues to grow. In addition, concerns about the negative impact of artificial intelligence on white-collar jobs, the growing awareness of the robust salaries that solidly bring you into the middle class, and ever-increasing employer opportunities have fostered demand for training in the skilled trades. While we read about tens of thousands of jobs being eliminated by major corporations around the country, the placement of Lincoln Tech graduates in rewarding long-term careers like HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, welding, and healthcare, have hit recent highs and shows no signs of letting up. At Lincoln, we have focused our strategies on maximizing our opportunities in this increasingly receptive environment. The successful execution of these strategies has resulted in solid growth throughout our core operations, while new programs at existing campuses and new greenfield campuses have expanded our growth. Together, these factors led us to exceed our financial guidance for 2025 and have set the stage for consistent long-term growth and shareholder returns in the years ahead. During the fourth quarter of 2025, we achieved 15.7% student start growth. We have now grown student starts for 13 consecutive quarters. While the new campus openings and program replications at existing campuses meaningfully contributed to the overall increase, student starts at our programs operating for more than one year grew by 4% on a same-campus and same-program basis. This core growth was a major contributor to our near doubling of net income and a 51.7% increase in adjusted EBITDA during the fourth quarter. We also generated double-digit increases in total student population and total revenue over last year's fourth quarter. During 2025, we completed the most ambitious expansion in our company's recent history. We relocated our Nashville, Tennessee, campus, which has been operating for more than 100 years, to a new state-of-the-art facility atop a hill overlooking the city. Once our existing automotive technician and welding programs were relocated to the new campus, we introduced our HVAC and electrical programs to the Nashville market and renamed the campus, the Nashville Auto Diesel College. This impressive facility will host our upcoming Investor Day in less than a month, on March 19th. We also relocated our Philadelphia campus and its highly successful automotive technician program to a new facility in Levittown, Pennsylvania, which is just as impressive as our Nashville campus. This 90,000 sq ft building now houses newly opened HVAC, electrical, and welding programs, as well as the automotive program, and provides Lincoln Tech with ample space to grow over the coming years to help Pennsylvania employers meet demand for skilled workers. 10 days ago, we celebrated the campus's initial success in classes with a grand opening attended by local and regional government and corporate leaders. Our third campus opening during 2025 occurred in our newest market, Houston, Texas, where a facility matching those in Nashville and Levittown began classes in late September. The Houston campus is our second greenfield expansion during the past decade and adds to our presence in the Texas market, where some 240,000 new jobs demanding skilled trades training are expected to be created over the next 6 years. We held the grand opening of the Houston campus last Wednesday. Like all the campuses opened in 2025, the initial enrollments are meeting or exceeding expectations and are expected to be a major contributor to our continued start growth in 2026. Our new campus development efforts were expanded during 2025. We now aim to initiate two new campus projects each year. In 2026, we are focusing on developing new campuses in Hicksville, New York, and Rowlett, Texas. Hicksville is on schedule to open during the fourth quarter of this year, while Rowlett is expected to begin classes in the first quarter of 2027. Both campuses will provide HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, and welding training programs and expand Lincoln's presence in growing metropolitan locations. In the case of Hicksville, it's metropolitan New York, where we have a very successful automotive technician and electrical program in Queens. In the case of Rowlett, it's metropolitan Dallas, where our Grand Prairie campus has been one of our most successful operations. The adding of a second campus in an underserved, growing metropolitan market has been a most successful strategy for Lincoln, first executed at our East Point campus in Atlanta, which opened in 2024. Demand for our programs at East Point exceeded our initial expectations. In 2025, we signed a lease to build out an additional 10,000 sq ft of space at that facility. We expect to complete this expansion in 2026. In addition to new campuses, we have successfully executed the bulk of our program replication strategy at existing campuses. However, in January of 2026, we opened an electrical program at our Plainfield, New Jersey, campus, which was the 12th replication at an existing campus during the past 2 years. Like new campuses, these replications are significant contributors to our 15% start growth during 2025 and our outlook for continued start growth in 2026. However, I want to emphasize that our core business is also very strong, with approximately half of this year's growth coming from campuses and programs that have been open for more than 1 year. We believe our Lincoln 10.0 hybrid teaching platform is also playing a major role in this growth by providing flexibility to our students, who often need to balance work and life while earning their certificate or degree. We have achieved this flexibility by combining hands-on learning at campus facilities with a component of classroom work delivered through online instruction, which reduces the time needed to complete many of our curriculums and accelerates our graduates to their highly rewarding careers. We have realized instructional efficiencies, space efficiencies, and organizational productivity through Lincoln 10.0, and anticipate this trend continuing during 2026. Meanwhile, we continue to evaluate opportunities to expand into other underserved U.S. markets and build on our core operations growth. For instance, we've expanded investments in targeted high school initiatives that are leading to greater interest among students, parents, and school districts. At the same time, and further reflecting the shift in mindset, high schools are reaching out to us to explore how to offer our skilled trades programs to their students. Under what we call our High School Share program, students attend Lincoln classes during their junior and senior years of high school and then continue after high school to gain their certificate in less time, which accelerates their entry into a rewarding career. Our corporate partnerships are also important sources of additional profitability and hiring opportunities for our students. A couple of weeks ago, we signed an agreement with New Jersey Transit, under which our WorkforceLinc division will provide diesel and electrical systems training to New Jersey Transit technicians at New Jersey maintenance facilities. In addition, we expanded our highly successful partnership with Johnson Controls with a new initiative that will provide technicians for their growing data center AI business, and Container Maintenance Corporation also reached out to expand training to even more of their workforce. Landing new accounts while expanding existing relationships clearly demonstrates Lincoln Tech's ability to deliver high ROI training to employers desperate to grow their workforce. The opportunity ahead for our WorkforceLinc division is to effectively communicate the value proposition that we provide so we can meaningfully capture more business. Our 2026 guidance illustrates our confidence in continuing the growth trends at both existing and recently launched operations going forward. We now believe we could approach the $600 million revenue level for the full year. We have made great strides during 2025 at reducing our bad debt levels. This progress, along with our other operating efficiencies being realized throughout our operations, presents the opportunity to build on the exceptional adjusted EBITDA growth we experienced during the past year, while further enhancing the Lincoln student experience. We have established a standard of excellence within our programs that meet or exceed all regulatory standards, and we've continued to build our student placement rate, excuse me, in rewarding long-term careers. Our outlook for the year ahead is robust, and we look forward to presenting a full five-year roadmap during our Investor Day at our new Nashville campus on March 19th. For nearly 80 years, Lincoln has remained focused on delivering high-quality, life-changing career education, and no one else has our combination of longevity, scale, and proven experience. By continuing to execute our strategies to expand our network of schools and replicating our most in-demand programs at our existing campuses, we are well-positioned to help America close its chronic and severe skills gap by meeting the growing demand for more talented men and women to enter the skilled trades. Finally, I'd like to note, aside from the Investor Day on March 19th, we'll be continuing our investor outreach efforts and continue to attend conferences and do non-deal roadshows with our covering analysts. Now I'll turn the call over to Brian Meyers, so he can review the financial highlights for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 and our 2026 guidance. Brian? Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone. From a financial perspective, Lincoln achieved many milestones during 2025. Our performance has positioned the company to achieve strong growth and increasing profitability, as reflected in our 2026 guidance and our long-term outlook. As Scott said in his remarks, we had an excellent finish to an already strong year. We outperformed our most recent guidance for revenue, net income, and adjusted EBITDA, while meeting student guidance with 15.2% growth year-over-year. I'll provide more detail on these results. First, I'll start with our fourth quarter performance. As a reminder, comparisons to the prior year will exclude the transitional segment, which consists of our former Summerlin Las Vegas campus, sold in late 2024. Fourth quarter revenue grew by $25.2 million, or 21.4% to $142.9 million. This growth was driven by a 17% increase in average student population and a 3.7% increase in revenue per student. We enrolled nearly 4,000 new students during Q4, representing start growth of 15.7% and extending our track record of consistent year-over-year growth to 13 consecutive quarters. An important contributor to our overall start growth in the quarter and throughout the year was our organic growth in starts, which accounted for approximately 4% of the growth. This excludes new campuses and program expansions launched in 2024 and 2025 and highlights the strong demand for our existing programs. Average student population grew 17%, year-end population increased nearly 15% to 17,000, representing over 2,200 more students than the prior year. This is one of several factors positioning us for another strong year of growth in 2026. Diving into the quarter start growth. Transportation and skilled trades, which represents about 80% of our student population, generated start growth of 23.4%, including strong organic growth of approximately 7.5%. Healthcare and other professions represent approximately 20% of our population, and we saw our starts in this program decline 2%, which was in line with our expectations. This reflects our strategic decision to exit our culinary program in December of 2024. We are pleased to report that enrollments for nursing students at Paramus resumed last month. The pause in new nursing starts at Paramus was another main factor, reducing starts in the HOPS programs last year. Excluding the culinary program, HOPS starts showed moderate growth as we continued to focus on strengthening our core offerings. Turning to expenses. Total operating expenses were $125.1 million, up $19 million, in line with expectations, reflecting higher costs to support our larger student population and growth initiatives. Depreciation expense increased $3.5 million due to our recent high level of growth-related capital investments in campus facilities. Excluding depreciation, education, service, and facility expenses improved to 33% of revenue from 34.7%, reflecting instructional efficiencies from our hybrid teaching model. SG&A expenses also demonstrated operating leverage, improving to 49.8% of revenue from 51.6%. This improvement was supported in part by lower bad debt expense as a percentage of revenue, which declined to 10.9% from 13.1%, reflecting enhancements to our financial aid process and stronger collections. Adjusted EBITDA increased 51.2% to $29.1 million, including the transitional segment. This growth demonstrates the strong operating leverage we are building, with EBITDA margin expanding more than 400 basis points to 20.4%. Lastly, net income increased over 70%, up to $12.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share. Adjusted net income increased to $15.8 million, or $0.50 per diluted share on 31.4 million diluted shares outstanding. Our full-year results. Revenue grew 19.7%-... to $518.2 million, driven by a 17.9% growth in average student population. Total starts grew to approximately 21,000, up 15.2%, with organic start growth accounting for more than half of this increase. Adjusted EBITDA rose 60% to $67.1 million, including the transitional segment, and adjusted net income increased 64% to $28.4 million. Consistent with our seasonality, the fourth quarter was our strongest cash-generating quarter. Operating cash flow totaled $59.3 million, more than double the prior year. We ended the year with nearly $29 million in cash and approximately $90 million in total liquidity, with no debt outstanding. Capital expenditures for 2025 totaled $88 million, of which $86.6 million is reflect on the statement of cash flow. Approximately 70% of total CapEx related to growth initiatives. We exceeded our CapEx guidance due to opportunities to accelerate construction activity at campuses under development, shifting spend from 2026 into 2025, while maintaining original campus opening timelines and budgets. As part of our CapEx growth projects, we completed 2 campus relocations, which included the launch of a total of 5 new programs. Additionally, we completed 2 program expansions and added 4 new programs at our existing campuses. Within 3 years, we expect each of these programs to generate on average, around $1 million in incremental EBITDA, contributing significantly to future profitability. Looking ahead, based on our current trends and visibility, we are providing the following guidance for 2026. Revenue of $580 million-$590 million. Adjusted EBITDA, $72 million-$76 million. Net income, $20 million-$23 million. Diluted EPS, $0.64-$0.74. Student start growth of 8%-13%. Capital expenditures ranging from $70 million-$75 million. Let me provide some additional context around our guidance. Historically, we excluded pre-opening costs as well as net operating losses during the first year of operations from new campuses, as well as pre-launch expenses from program replications from adjusted EBITDA. Beginning in 2026, we will no longer make those adjustments. Adjusted EBITDA will reflect only the add back of non-cash start-based compensation. Historically, these excluded expenses totaled approximately $10 million in both 2024 and 2025. We estimate to incur a similar amount of $10 million of expenses related to new campuses and program development in 2026 as we continue to invest in our growth initiatives, especially our new campus openings in Hicksville, Long Island, and Rowlett, Texas. While we will no longer exclude these investment expenses from our calculation of adjusted EBITDA, we will continue to provide investors with our expected levels of these expenses, along with the actual amounts incurred each quarter. We believe this added transparency will help investors better understanding our operating results and the profitability of our active campuses. All of our key financial metrics are expected to grow at a healthy pace in 2026. Revenue is expected to grow approximately 13%, following the same seasonality as 2025. Starts are expected to generate high single-digit to low double-digit growth over the prior year period in each quarter. Adjusted EBITDA growth is expected to be approximately 30% for 2026. Consistent with our seasonality, we project to generate the highest adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. The higher growth rate for adjusted EBITDA compared to our projected revenue growth reflects the operating leverage of our business model. Net income is projected to grow a little bit, a little more modestly by approximately 7.5% year-over-year, trailing adjusted EBITDA growth due to significant increases in depreciation expense. Depreciation is projected to increase to $33 million from $20.8 million in 2025. We anticipate total depreciation expense to be fairly even each quarter through the year. This increase reflects capital investments made in recent years related to new campuses, campus relocations, new programs, and program expansions. Over the past three years, these initiatives have accounted for the vast majority of our $185 million in net capital expenditures. As new campuses open and programs scale, these investments will mature and begin generating returns, allowing net income growth to more closely align with our adjusted EBITDA performance. For the full year, we expect net income in the first half of the year to be comparable or slightly down from the prior year, mostly due to depreciation with growth in the second half of the year. We anticipate the fourth quarter to be our strongest quarter of the year, driving the majority of our overall improvement. Regarding capital expenditures, we expect the majority of spend to occur in the first half of the year, with approximately 70% allocated to growth initiatives, including new campuses and program expansions. The remaining capital will be focused on enhancing our facilities, classrooms, and training equipment to further improve the student experience. While CapEx will remain at a robust level of $70 million-$75 million in 2026, it is now comparable to our adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow, both of which have grown significantly. As a result, although we expect to utilize our credit facility during the year, based on our current announced campus expansion plans to date, we anticipate finishing 2026 with no debt outstanding once again. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $5 million, primarily driven by increased borrowings. In terms of timing, we anticipate expenses to be relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, with slightly higher levels in the second and third quarters. Our income tax provision is expected to be approximately 29% of pre-tax income. Lastly, we forecast our diluted weighted average common shares outstanding to range from 31.1 million-31.4 million for the quarters and approximately 31.2 million for the year. In closing, we are proud of our 2025 performance and enter 2026 with strong momentum and confidence in our continued strength of our business. As Scott mentioned, we will be sharing our 5-year outlook at our Investor Day on March 19th, at our newly relocated Nashville, Tennessee, campus. I want to thank our Lincoln team for their dedication and commitment to delivering exceptional education while creating long-term value for both students and shareholders. Now I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator? Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again, we ask that you please limit to one question, one follow-up, and if you have additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. Our first question will come from Alex Paris with Barrington Research. Your line is now open. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the strong finish to the year. Looking forward to Investor Day and the 5-year targets. Thanks, Alex. So, so are we. Great. I'll focus my questions on demand, which continues to be very strong across the board, from organic growth to new campuses and program replications. You make some allusion in your overall, your prepared comments about increased investment in your high school initiatives. Can you maybe go over that with us a little bit? Sure. Excuse me. Historically, we've been getting about 20% of our students from the high school market, and even though we've been doing that, there have always been high schools that have been, I'll say, hesitant to let us in to talk to their students. Over the last 24 months, that has been changing. As the market is being far more receptive and as we're hearing more comments from high school parents and guidance counselors, that the trades really are important to them and their students, we're basically investing and putting more talent out there to go out to more high schools to recruit more high school students. I think it's the right time, the mood is right, and we're gonna lean into that as much as possible, and I'm anticipating, that we'll get, start getting more growth. We did grow our high school business this year. It'll grow again next year, but I think the real kickers will come, frankly, in 2027 and 2028. Building high school teams is a long-term investment play. As you know, you're meeting with students, you're meeting with guidance counselors in the fall and the spring and waiting for those students to then start in the summer. We've already made good progress, and we've established some new relationships, but I really anticipate that that's gonna, really, ramp up much more so, as I said, 12 months and 24 months from now. That makes sense, and that's great color. I appreciate that. Then my follow-up question, I guess, would be just looking at the results by program. As you said in the prepared comments, transportation and skilled trades were up 23% in the quarter and the year, down in the quarter and the year for healthcare and other professions. I think you called out culinary program in 2024, which was eliminated, and Paramus wasn't able to enroll new nursing students for a while. Maybe just a little bit more color on healthcare and other professions. If you exclude those two, you know, what is the balance of the healthcare and other profession business doing right now? Yes. Thanks, Alex, and, and good points. Yes, well, first of all, in 2026, we expect that the healthcare sector will be growing. As you mentioned, we are able to now re-enroll at our Paramus campus, so we'll be able to grow and enroll students at all 7 of our LPN campuses. Somewhat put that in perspective, we, we closed out 2025 with maybe 40 students in our LPN program at Paramus, and before we were stopped from enrolling students there, we had over 250 students at that campus. I'm anticipating that that's gonna start ramping up again, which is gonna help us grow our healthcare sector. As you mentioned, we did exit, and we've been exiting over the last couple of years,... programs that we know just don't provide the strongest ROI. We exited everything basically in the hospitality area, which include culinary. While we had great employers, as I said in the past, whether it's Disney, Marriott, and various chains coming to hire our chefs, they just don't pay a lot. The recent data that came out from the department in January, that kind of highlighted, it's their version of gainful employment. I'm happy to say that all of our programs clearly pass the threshold, and that's due to the fact that, frankly, we just exited those programs that didn't do well, such as cosmetology and culinary. We're really poised for more growth, where we've taken all the right moves, so it puts us in a good position. You know, just like I said, we're leaning into high school. We're also gonna continue to lead into the skilled trades and automotive. We just continue to see interest and demand from employers and students in both of those areas. That's great. If I were to have a third question, that would have been my last one, the earnings test. You said, just to be clear, that all your programs passed the threshold? That is correct. That is correct. Excellent. All right, well, thank you very much. Congrats, and I'll get back in the queue. Thanks, Alex. Thank you. Our next question will come from Luke Horton with Northland Capital. Your line's open. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on a really, really strong end of the year here. Just wanted to start with sort of the, the 2026 outlook. If you could dive into some of the, some of the puts and takes or assumptions baked into that guide, from an organic perspective versus new campuses, continued hybrid learning rollout, just kind of your thoughts around the 2026 guide. Sure. I'll start off, Brian, then you, you can fill in anything. Sure. We, we expect to see continued trends that we've experienced. As we mentioned, in 2025, about half of our growth was from organic business, so that's growing existing programs at our existing campuses. I anticipate that that's going to continue, maybe not at the same level that it did this year, just as the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger, but it will be meaningful. Then second of all, we do see the prospect of all the programs that we've put in place in the new campuses that we're opening. That really gives us the confidence to give you this guidance for starts, and I'm anticipating that trends continue. We'll, we'll certainly be at the middle to the high end of that range. Then, as you know, that's what drives everything else. It drives the revenue, and given the efficiencies we have with our hybrid model and given where we are with the number of students in the classroom, as we continue to increase those student-teacher ratios, as we continue to increase the density at our campuses, those additional dollars do drop to the bottom line. We're using, you know, about a 30% number of additional revenue dropping to the bottom line, and that's what gives you the profitability, and that just flows through the income statement. I don't know, Brian, anything else? Well, yeah, yeah, you just about covered everything. The only thing I'll add is for the new campuses, let's say Houston, as well as our new Long Island campus that's come in the fourth quarter, revenue for them is about 10%. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, you know, they're anticipated to have losses, that and some new programs over approximately about $10 million. So, it's really not, you know, for 2026 adding to our profitability. Okay. Got it. That, that's very helpful. Then just my follow-up would be on, last call you had mentioned that the East Point campus, after outperforming expectations, you announced that incremental, like, 15,000 sq ft expansion, which could add about 500 student capacity. I guess, any update on that timeline? I guess, are you guys seeing any, any other opportunities to do this with existing campuses, or, or is there any relocation opportunities like you've done with, with Nashville and Philadelphia? Sure, I'll take that. The, the new space will open up later this year, so we'll start getting incremental bodies, students from that. That's really gonna, you know, help maybe a little bit in the fourth quarter of this year, but really more so in 2027 for the East Point campus. I'll also just tell you that at both the Houston campus and the Levittown campus that we opened up, in both of those facilities, we have about 10,000-15,000 sq ft of space that we haven't yet built out. We can see what resonates in those markets to either grow our existing programs or to add new programs down the line. As I mentioned, last time at our Melrose campus, we did close out our collision program, which opened up space. Our collision program at that time had maybe 60 students or so in it, and we were able to close that down, add 40 more welding booths to that location, add an HVAC program, as well as our 3rd Tesla training center. I can tell you that we are looking at doing a similar type of operation like that at our Grand Prairie campus, where we were gonna scale back our collision program there to open up more space, frankly, to, to continue to grow our electrical program. There are select opportunities out there, and we, we just constantly just kind of look at the marketplace and see where the demand is, and we'll make adjustments accordingly, if that helps you. Yeah, no, super helpful. Makes sense. Thanks for taking the questions, and, and looking forward to that investor day here next month. Great. Look forward to seeing you there. Thank you. The next question is going to come from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street. Your line is open. Yeah, I wanted to dive a little deeper on the CapEx spend here in 2027. You mentioned that it was essentially a pull forward of some of the spend that was planned for 2026. Was wondering if that was due to just sort of conservatism on the construction plans that you guys had in place or maybe a more favorable, more responsive regulatory approvals? Yeah, it, it'd be on the, on the former side. I mean, sometimes it, it's tough to, to gauge when certain things are going to get done and when certain permits are, are coming in. You know, the good news is, is that construction is moving along quite well. Yeah, some of the expenses that we were thinking were going to happen this year occurred in 2025. That sets our, frankly, our Hicksville campus up to be in a good position to help contribute to us in, in the fourth quarter of this year. Okay. You talked about the employer demand being healthy, specifically calling out New Jersey Transit and Johnson Controls. Just curious if you had any other anecdotes from recent conversations with employers as far as incremental demand versus, say, six months ago? Yeah, no. Well, I would just say kind of across the board, Eric, we, we, our career services people are out there all the time. We've actually also brought on a gentleman to help us build more national relationships. All I can say is that people are seeing more opportunity and not less as we continue to penetrate each market and get deeper into it. So, that really is very encouraging to us because at the end of the day, as you know, our students are coming to us because they want to get a good, solid career. From everything that we're seeing, it's certainly not abating in any which way. Got it. Thanks for taking my questions. Sure. Thank you. The next question will come from Steven Frankel with Rosenblatt. Your line is open. Good morning. Could you start by giving us the metrics for graduation rate and placement rate for 2025? Sure. Our graduation rate, as we track it, did decline by about 200 basis points to about 67.5%, if I'm not mistaken, and our placement rate increased by about 250 basis points, to 82.8%, if I'm not mistaken. Yes. Okay, and then, thanks for all the comments on, high school. Two, two quick questions there. One, in 25, what % of the incoming students came from high school, and where do you think these initiatives will take it? Then you talked about an interesting High School Share program. How many locations is that currently ongoing today? Sure, Steven. Again, about 20% of 2025 students basically came right out of high school and came to our schools. Where that's gonna go, I know it's gonna go higher. I don't have specific numbers because we're also going to be increasing our base, but I, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing it, say, in the mid-twenties, depending on how successful we are. But, also as, you know, reflective of how much we continue to grow our adult market, which remains, you know, very robust for us. With regards to the High School Share program, right now, it's I'll say this, we have about, let's say about 150 students in that program, and that's mainly in New Jersey, since we have strong relationships there. However, we did bring on someone to help us grow this, and I can tell you that we literally have interest from dozens and dozens of school districts around the country. As to what will materialize, it's hard to say. These school districts are very difficult to, I'll say, work with, and they're not necessarily quick to work with us. We love the idea because as you probably know or may know, 20% of people in community colleges are in high school. They're doing dual enrollment. We said: Well, why can't we do the same thing with the trades? For the students that we're serving today, if they start with us in I'm sorry, in their junior year, they'll graduate having completed more than 50% of our program, which means if they were to enroll with us, they can continue their education, graduate in half the time with half the debt. It's kind of a win-win situation. It's a wonderful opportunity. It's still in its infancy, but we're certainly going to push it as much as we can because it's, I think it's a win-win for everyone. Thank you. Yep. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Our next question will come from Griffin Boss with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open. Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Very solid results and guidance, and I appreciate the level of detail you've provided today. Just one for me. I want to jump back to build on what Luke asked earlier regarding the guidance. Can you just kind of dig into how you're thinking about the revenue guide? If you look at the, you know, the low end of the revenue guide implies about 12% year-over-year growth, really, really solid. But then you look at starts, and you got that wide 8%-13% range. Kind of what, what, what are the puts and takes there in terms of, you know, let's say you hit the low end of the revenue guide at $580 million, you got 12% growth and. ... you know, starts are 8% or something. What's the, what, what's accounting for the delta there? I mean, are you anticipating, you know, 3% tuition increase for the year, which, you know, makes up that other, you know, 3%-4% kind of? Well, as, as we said in the past, we raise our tuition around 1%-3% a year. We definitely wanna stay at that level, not raise it more. If you look at our average revenue, that can fluctuate a little bit more than that, again, somewhat depending on program mix. Overall, I mean, you kind of, yeah, you obviously did the math. You look at the numbers, it there will be... We feel very good about what, we anticipate we'll be able to achieve. We put numbers out there that we think are very achievable for us, and I think as far as the, the starts go, you know, certainly 8%, I'll say this, I'd be very disappointed if we end up at that level. You know, the world is never fully certain in, as you look to the future, but, you know, certainly given where we are today, it certainly seems like that would be something meaningful would have to change for us to be at that low level. I don't know, Brian, anything else you want to say? The only thing I'll add, Griffin, is our- we have a very robust carrying population that we're getting really good benefits from. I think it was like in my remarks, 2,200 more students we're seeing a year. That really sets us up for a very strong 2026. Also, we're, we're also looking at scholarships. Scholarships, when we give us our internal scholarships out, they do start at a higher rate. We might be looking to reduce that a little bit as well, that way we should get a boost from revenue as well. Got it. Okay, great color. Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Brian. Again, we're really pleased to see the solid results and looking forward to seeing you both in March. Appreciate it. Yep. We as well. Thank you. The next question comes from Raj Sharma with Texas Capital. Your line's open. Yeah, thank you, for taking my question. Again, congratulations on a, on a strong beat. Thanks. Also, yeah, also really good guidance. Now, my question is, you know, you continue to, to grow your enrollment, succeeding competitors in the space, the, the starts growth. Can you give us any color on how the starts are fairing geographically and, and also across, you know, auto, industrial, or healthcare, sort of- Yep. Are you seeing a, are you seeing a consistent growth pattern here, and you expect to see that going on? Yeah, so, good question. Certainly geographically, we, we see opportunity kind of across the map, certainly our map. I can't say there's one area that's consistently better than, than another, so that's good for us. As far as programs go, there certainly is stronger interest, I'll say, in the skilled trades in automotive than for us in the, in the healthcare side of our business. But we're just, you know, I, I don't know, Raj, how to explain it, but all I can say is we've narrowed our focus to really be in about nine different programs. Our goal is to really be the best in each of those programs. I think as we continue to concentrate and focus, both from a, an academic standpoint and curriculum development standpoint, it's giving us, I believe, a short term, and I'm hoping even long-term success, and I hope that that's going to also help, frankly, our whole operation. It builds, we believe, stronger relationships and opportunities with the employers. That helps our students. It could help us, as I mentioned, with our WorkforceLinc division. You know, we're trying to be very thoughtful, very concentrated, focused on quality, focused on ensuring students have the skills that they need, and making the learning environment as attractive as possible. I will tell you, we had good growth in our student recommend rate for telling their friends, "Why don't you come to Lincoln?" That's the best form of advertising we could have, those are things that we're gonna continue to foster because, A, we want to be the best, and B, it helps our business thrive. Yeah. Great. Thank you, thank you for that. Just sort of, bigger picture of the EBITDA growth has been fantastic, and, you know, you're getting about 13% EBITDA margins. Where, where overall, where can you expect those to trend to? Are those being held back, held down, you know, by your nursing healthcare related parameters? Yep ... and, and X of that? How do you, how do you see those trending? Well, as in our, our guidance and how we see how things operating, I mean, I would anticipate that our EBITDA margins should continue to grow at 150-250 basis points a year as we continue to grow our business. We, we get great operating leverage kind of across the board. We obviously have a lot of fixed costs, but once you have that faculty member, once you have that classroom, and as long as you have additional capacity, driving more people into it is what drives those margins. We still have a lot of room for growth. We're probably about around 60%, you know, capacity utilization. As I've said to people in the past, that doesn't assume that we open up more capacity by doing weekends or other shifts that could add more capacity. I anticipate the margins to continue to grow. I forget, there was maybe another part to your question, but, you know, that's kind of the exciting part about where we see our future. Revenue is strong, operating performance is strong, and we anticipate our business is gonna grow meaningfully at the top line, but even faster at the bottom line. ... great. Yeah, just lastly, you know, really looking forward to seeing you all at the Nashville campus. Would it be too much to expect Nashville campus performance to match what you guys did at East Point? Well, I think that the, the difference is this: the East Point campus is truly a local-serving campus, so it's all adults and high school students from that geography. Our Nashville campus is our most unique campus in that it is, it is certainly serving the local market, but it will also serve a much larger universe. It enrolls students from, I believe, it's 9 or 11 neighboring states. That campus is much more focused on the high school market, and that is one of the areas that we're gonna be really growing our high school market. I anticipate that the Nashville campus can become, certainly as, as profitable as the East Point campus, but the pace at which that happens will be a little bit different because as we've mentioned, with the high school program, you do a lot of work, you grow it in the summer, you do a lot of work, and then you grow it again in the next summer, versus the East Point, every month, as we enroll new students, we're able to constantly build that population base. I hope that helps you there. Yeah, great. thank you. I'll end it there. Again, congratulations on fantastic results. Thanks, Raj. See you guys. See you next month. Thanks, Raj. Yep. Thanks. Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Scott Shaw for closing remarks. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us today as we reviewed our continued progress and set forth financial guidance for 2026. Lincoln is benefiting from both macro-operating environment trends, changes in public policy, and our own consistent execution of growth initiatives at our existing campuses and new facilities. Our investments in our operations, our students, and our organization creates numerous opportunities to generate increasing levels of shareholder returns over several years. Our success is only made possible by the commitment and dedication of our faculty and staff, and the success of our students. I'd like to thank our shareholders for their support and our entire team for their dedication to achieving our goals. I hope to see our analysts and investors at our Investor Day on March 19th. Thank you all again and have a great day. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

Speaker 7: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to the fourth quarter 2025 Lincoln Educational Services Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you would need to press * 1 1 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Polyviou. Please go ahead. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. ladies and gentlemen thank you for standing by Welcome to the fourth quarter 2025 Lincoln Educational Services Earnings Conference Call. welcome to the fourth quarter 2025 lincoln educational services earnings conference call At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. at this time all participants are in a listen-only mode After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. after the speaker's presentation there will be a question-and-answer session To ask a question during the session, you would need to press * 1 1 on your telephone. to ask a question during the session you would need to press * 1 1 on your telephone You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. you will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again. to withdraw your question please press * 1 1 again Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. please be advised that today's conference is being recorded I would now like to turn the conference over to Michael Polyviou. i would now like to turn the conference over to michael polyviou Please go ahead. please go ahead

Speaker 6: Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, everyone. Before the market opened today, Lincoln Educational Services issued a news release recording financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025, as well as recent corporate developments. The release is available on the investor relations portion of the company's corporate website at www.lincolntech.edu. Joining us today on the call are Scott Shaw, CEO and President, and Brian Meyers, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. Today's call is being recorded and is being broadcast live on the company's website. A replay of the call will be archived on the company's website as well. Statements made by Lincoln's management on today's call regarding the company's business that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as the term is identified in federal securities laws. Thank you, Michelle. thank you michelle Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone Before the market opened today, Lincoln Educational Services issued a news release recording financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2025, as well as recent corporate developments. before the market opened today lincoln educational services issued a news release recording financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended december 31 2025 as well as recent corporate developments The release is available on the investor relations portion of the company's corporate website at www.lincolntech.edu. the release is available on the investor relations portion of the company's corporate website at www.lincolntech.edu Joining us today on the call are Scott Shaw, CEO and President, and Brian Meyers, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President. joining us today on the call are scott shaw ceo and president and brian meyers chief financial officer and executive vice president Today's call is being recorded and is being broadcast live on the company's website. today's call is being recorded and is being broadcast live on the company's website A replay of the call will be archived on the company's website as well. a replay of the call will be archived on the company's website as well Statements made by Lincoln's management on today's call regarding the company's business that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as the term is identified in federal securities laws. statements made by lincoln's management on today's call regarding the company's business that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements as the term is identified in federal securities laws The words may, will, expect, believe, anticipate, project, plan, intend, estimate, and continue, as well as similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance. The company cautions you that these statements reflect certain expectations about the company's future performance or events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, risks, and other influences, many of which are beyond the company's control, and may influence the accuracy of the statement and projection upon which the segmented statements are based. Factors that may affect the company's results include, excuse me, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Risk Factors section of the annual report on Form 10-K and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The words may, will, expect, believe, anticipate, project, plan, intend, estimate, and continue, as well as similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. the words may will expect believe anticipate project plan intend estimate and continue as well as similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance. forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance The company cautions you that these statements reflect certain expectations about the company's future performance or events and are subject to a number of uncertainties, risks, and other influences, many of which are beyond the company's control, and may influence the accuracy of the statement and projection upon which the segmented statements are based. the company cautions you that these statements reflect certain expectations about the company's future performance or events and are subject to a number of uncertainties risks and other influences many of which are beyond the company's control and may influence the accuracy of the statement and projection upon which the segmented statements are based Factors that may affect the company's results include, excuse me, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in the Risk Factors section of the annual report on Form 10-K and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. factors that may affect the company's results include excuse me but are not limited to the risks and uncertainties discussed in the risk factors section of the annual report on form 10-k and the quarterly report on form 10-q filed with the securities and exchange commission Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and management's good faith belief as of the time with respect to future events. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Lincoln undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date thereof. One other housekeeping matter. During the Q&A portion of the call today, we would ask questions to limit themselves to 2 questions and then we ask any additional questions. In advance, we thank you for your cooperation. Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Scott Shaw, CEO and President. Scott, please go ahead. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and management's good faith belief as of the time with respect to future events. forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time those statements are made and management's good faith belief as of the time with respect to future events All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. all forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement Lincoln undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, after the date thereof. lincoln undertakes no obligation to publicly revise or update any forward-looking statement whether as a result of new information future events or otherwise after the date thereof One other housekeeping matter. one other housekeeping matter During the Q&A portion of the call today, we would ask questions to limit themselves to 2 questions and then we ask any additional questions. during the q&a portion of the call today we would ask questions to limit themselves to 2 questions and then we ask any additional questions In advance, we thank you for your cooperation. in advance we thank you for your cooperation Now, I'd like to turn the call over to Scott Shaw, CEO and President. now i'd like to turn the call over to scott shaw ceo and president Scott, please go ahead. scott please go ahead

Speaker 9: Thank you, Michael. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to recap our exceptional fourth quarter and full year operating and financial performance, as well as introduce our guidance for 2026. Lincoln Tech is riding the building interest across America in skilled trades training as employer demand for skilled workers continues to exceed supply, and the public's questioning of the value of the traditional four-year college education continues to grow. In addition, concerns about the negative impact of artificial intelligence on white-collar jobs, the growing awareness of the robust salaries that solidly bring you into the middle class, and ever-increasing employer opportunities have fostered demand for training in the skilled trades. Thank you, Michael. thank you michael Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone Thank you for joining us today to recap our exceptional fourth quarter and full year operating and financial performance, as well as introduce our guidance for 2026. thank you for joining us today to recap our exceptional fourth quarter and full year operating and financial performance as well as introduce our guidance for 2026 Lincoln Tech is riding the building interest across America in skilled trades training as employer demand for skilled workers continues to exceed supply, and the public's questioning of the value of the traditional four-year college education continues to grow. lincoln tech is riding the building interest across america in skilled trades training as employer demand for skilled workers continues to exceed supply and the public's questioning of the value of the traditional four-year college education continues to grow In addition, concerns about the negative impact of artificial intelligence on white-collar jobs, the growing awareness of the robust salaries that solidly bring you into the middle class, and ever-increasing employer opportunities have fostered demand for training in the skilled trades. in addition concerns about the negative impact of artificial intelligence on white-collar jobs the growing awareness of the robust salaries that solidly bring you into the middle class and ever-increasing employer opportunities have fostered demand for training in the skilled trades While we read about tens of thousands of jobs being eliminated by major corporations around the country, the placement of Lincoln Tech graduates in rewarding long-term careers like HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, welding, and healthcare, have hit recent highs and shows no signs of letting up. At Lincoln, we have focused our strategies on maximizing our opportunities in this increasingly receptive environment. The successful execution of these strategies has resulted in solid growth throughout our core operations, while new programs at existing campuses and new greenfield campuses have expanded our growth. Together, these factors led us to exceed our financial guidance for 2025 and have set the stage for consistent long-term growth and shareholder returns in the years ahead. While we read about tens of thousands of jobs being eliminated by major corporations around the country, the placement of Lincoln Tech graduates in rewarding long-term careers like HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, welding, and healthcare, have hit recent highs and shows no signs of letting up. while we read about tens of thousands of jobs being eliminated by major corporations around the country the placement of lincoln tech graduates in rewarding long-term careers like hvac electrical automotive technician welding and healthcare have hit recent highs and shows no signs of letting up At Lincoln, we have focused our strategies on maximizing our opportunities in this increasingly receptive environment. at lincoln we have focused our strategies on maximizing our opportunities in this increasingly receptive environment The successful execution of these strategies has resulted in solid growth throughout our core operations, while new programs at existing campuses and new greenfield campuses have expanded our growth. the successful execution of these strategies has resulted in solid growth throughout our core operations while new programs at existing campuses and new greenfield campuses have expanded our growth Together, these factors led us to exceed our financial guidance for 2025 and have set the stage for consistent long-term growth and shareholder returns in the years ahead. together these factors led us to exceed our financial guidance for 2025 and have set the stage for consistent long-term growth and shareholder returns in the years ahead During the fourth quarter of 2025, we achieved 15.7% student start growth. We have now grown student starts for 13 consecutive quarters. While the new campus openings and program replications at existing campuses meaningfully contributed to the overall increase, student starts at our programs operating for more than one year grew by 4% on a same-campus and same-program basis. This core growth was a major contributor to our near doubling of net income and a 51.7% increase in adjusted EBITDA during the fourth quarter. We also generated double-digit increases in total student population and total revenue over last year's fourth quarter. During 2025, we completed the most ambitious expansion in our company's recent history. During the fourth quarter of 2025, we achieved 15.7% student start growth. during the fourth quarter of 2025 we achieved 15.7% student start growth We have now grown student starts for 13 consecutive quarters. we have now grown student starts for 13 consecutive quarters While the new campus openings and program replications at existing campuses meaningfully contributed to the overall increase, student starts at our programs operating for more than one year grew by 4% on a same-campus and same-program basis. while the new campus openings and program replications at existing campuses meaningfully contributed to the overall increase student starts at our programs operating for more than one year grew by 4% on a same-campus and same-program basis This core growth was a major contributor to our near doubling of net income and a 51.7% increase in adjusted EBITDA during the fourth quarter. this core growth was a major contributor to our near doubling of net income and a 51.7% increase in adjusted ebitda during the fourth quarter We also generated double-digit increases in total student population and total revenue over last year's fourth quarter. we also generated double-digit increases in total student population and total revenue over last year's fourth quarter During 2025, we completed the most ambitious expansion in our company's recent history. during 2025 we completed the most ambitious expansion in our company's recent history We relocated our Nashville, Tennessee, campus, which has been operating for more than 100 years, to a new state-of-the-art facility atop a hill overlooking the city. Once our existing automotive technician and welding programs were relocated to the new campus, we introduced our HVAC and electrical programs to the Nashville market and renamed the campus, the Nashville Auto Diesel College. This impressive facility will host our upcoming Investor Day in less than a month, on March 19th. We also relocated our Philadelphia campus and its highly successful automotive technician program to a new facility in Levittown, Pennsylvania, which is just as impressive as our Nashville campus. We relocated our Nashville, Tennessee, campus, which has been operating for more than 100 years, to a new state-of-the-art facility atop a hill overlooking the city. we relocated our nashville tennessee campus which has been operating for more than 100 years to a new state-of-the-art facility atop a hill overlooking the city Once our existing automotive technician and welding programs were relocated to the new campus, we introduced our HVAC and electrical programs to the Nashville market and renamed the campus, the Nashville Auto Diesel College. once our existing automotive technician and welding programs were relocated to the new campus we introduced our hvac and electrical programs to the nashville market and renamed the campus the nashville auto diesel college This impressive facility will host our upcoming Investor Day in less than a month, on March 19th. this impressive facility will host our upcoming investor day in less than a month on march 19th We also relocated our Philadelphia campus and its highly successful automotive technician program to a new facility in Levittown, Pennsylvania, which is just as impressive as our Nashville campus. we also relocated our philadelphia campus and its highly successful automotive technician program to a new facility in levittown pennsylvania which is just as impressive as our nashville campus This 90,000 sq ft building now houses newly opened HVAC, electrical, and welding programs, as well as the automotive program, and provides Lincoln Tech with ample space to grow over the coming years to help Pennsylvania employers meet demand for skilled workers. 10 days ago, we celebrated the campus's initial success in classes with a grand opening attended by local and regional government and corporate leaders. Our third campus opening during 2025 occurred in our newest market, Houston, Texas, where a facility matching those in Nashville and Levittown began classes in late September. The Houston campus is our second greenfield expansion during the past decade and adds to our presence in the Texas market, where some 240,000 new jobs demanding skilled trades training are expected to be created over the next 6 years. This 90,000 sq ft building now houses newly opened HVAC, electrical, and welding programs, as well as the automotive program, and provides Lincoln Tech with ample space to grow over the coming years to help Pennsylvania employers meet demand for skilled workers. 10 days ago, we celebrated the campus's initial success in classes with a grand opening attended by local and regional government and corporate leaders. this 90,000 sq ft building now houses newly opened hvac electrical and welding programs as well as the automotive program and provides lincoln tech with ample space to grow over the coming years to help pennsylvania employers meet demand for skilled workers 10 days ago we celebrated the campus's initial success in classes with a grand opening attended by local and regional government and corporate leaders Our third campus opening during 2025 occurred in our newest market, Houston, Texas, where a facility matching those in Nashville and Levittown began classes in late September. our third campus opening during 2025 occurred in our newest market houston texas where a facility matching those in nashville and levittown began classes in late september The Houston campus is our second greenfield expansion during the past decade and adds to our presence in the Texas market, where some 240,000 new jobs demanding skilled trades training are expected to be created over the next 6 years. the houston campus is our second greenfield expansion during the past decade and adds to our presence in the texas market where some 240,000 new jobs demanding skilled trades training are expected to be created over the next 6 years We held the grand opening of the Houston campus last Wednesday. Like all the campuses opened in 2025, the initial enrollments are meeting or exceeding expectations and are expected to be a major contributor to our continued start growth in 2026. Our new campus development efforts were expanded during 2025. We now aim to initiate two new campus projects each year. In 2026, we are focusing on developing new campuses in Hicksville, New York, and Rowlett, Texas. Hicksville is on schedule to open during the fourth quarter of this year, while Rowlett is expected to begin classes in the first quarter of 2027. Both campuses will provide HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, and welding training programs and expand Lincoln's presence in growing metropolitan locations. We held the grand opening of the Houston campus last Wednesday. we held the grand opening of the houston campus last wednesday Like all the campuses opened in 2025, the initial enrollments are meeting or exceeding expectations and are expected to be a major contributor to our continued start growth in 2026. like all the campuses opened in 2025 the initial enrollments are meeting or exceeding expectations and are expected to be a major contributor to our continued start growth in 2026 Our new campus development efforts were expanded during 2025. our new campus development efforts were expanded during 2025 We now aim to initiate two new campus projects each year. we now aim to initiate two new campus projects each year In 2026, we are focusing on developing new campuses in Hicksville, New York, and Rowlett, Texas. in 2026 we are focusing on developing new campuses in hicksville new york and rowlett texas Hicksville is on schedule to open during the fourth quarter of this year, while Rowlett is expected to begin classes in the first quarter of 2027. hicksville is on schedule to open during the fourth quarter of this year while rowlett is expected to begin classes in the first quarter of 2027 Both campuses will provide HVAC, electrical, automotive technician, and welding training programs and expand Lincoln's presence in growing metropolitan locations. both campuses will provide hvac electrical automotive technician and welding training programs and expand lincoln's presence in growing metropolitan locations In the case of Hicksville, it's metropolitan New York, where we have a very successful automotive technician and electrical program in Queens. In the case of Rowlett, it's metropolitan Dallas, where our Grand Prairie campus has been one of our most successful operations. The adding of a second campus in an underserved, growing metropolitan market has been a most successful strategy for Lincoln, first executed at our East Point campus in Atlanta, which opened in 2024. Demand for our programs at East Point exceeded our initial expectations. In 2025, we signed a lease to build out an additional 10,000 sq ft of space at that facility. We expect to complete this expansion in 2026. In addition to new campuses, we have successfully executed the bulk of our program replication strategy at existing campuses. In the case of Hicksville, it's metropolitan New York, where we have a very successful automotive technician and electrical program in Queens. in the case of hicksville it's metropolitan new york where we have a very successful automotive technician and electrical program in queens In the case of Rowlett, it's metropolitan Dallas, where our Grand Prairie campus has been one of our most successful operations. in the case of rowlett it's metropolitan dallas where our grand prairie campus has been one of our most successful operations The adding of a second campus in an underserved, growing metropolitan market has been a most successful strategy for Lincoln, first executed at our East Point campus in Atlanta, which opened in 2024. the adding of a second campus in an underserved growing metropolitan market has been a most successful strategy for lincoln first executed at our east point campus in atlanta which opened in 2024 Demand for our programs at East Point exceeded our initial expectations. demand for our programs at east point exceeded our initial expectations In 2025, we signed a lease to build out an additional 10,000 sq ft of space at that facility. in 2025 we signed a lease to build out an additional 10,000 sq ft of space at that facility We expect to complete this expansion in 2026. we expect to complete this expansion in 2026 In addition to new campuses, we have successfully executed the bulk of our program replication strategy at existing campuses. in addition to new campuses we have successfully executed the bulk of our program replication strategy at existing campuses However, in January of 2026, we opened an electrical program at our Plainfield, New Jersey, campus, which was the 12th replication at an existing campus during the past 2 years. Like new campuses, these replications are significant contributors to our 15% start growth during 2025 and our outlook for continued start growth in 2026. However, I want to emphasize that our core business is also very strong, with approximately half of this year's growth coming from campuses and programs that have been open for more than 1 year. We believe our Lincoln 10.0 hybrid teaching platform is also playing a major role in this growth by providing flexibility to our students, who often need to balance work and life while earning their certificate or degree. However, in January of 2026, we opened an electrical program at our Plainfield, New Jersey, campus, which was the 12th replication at an existing campus during the past 2 years. however in january of 2026 we opened an electrical program at our plainfield new jersey campus which was the 12th replication at an existing campus during the past 2 years Like new campuses, these replications are significant contributors to our 15% start growth during 2025 and our outlook for continued start growth in 2026. like new campuses these replications are significant contributors to our 15% start growth during 2025 and our outlook for continued start growth in 2026 However, I want to emphasize that our core business is also very strong, with approximately half of this year's growth coming from campuses and programs that have been open for more than 1 year. however i want to emphasize that our core business is also very strong with approximately half of this year's growth coming from campuses and programs that have been open for more than 1 year We believe our Lincoln 10.0 hybrid teaching platform is also playing a major role in this growth by providing flexibility to our students, who often need to balance work and life while earning their certificate or degree. we believe our lincoln 10.0 hybrid teaching platform is also playing a major role in this growth by providing flexibility to our students who often need to balance work and life while earning their certificate or degree We have achieved this flexibility by combining hands-on learning at campus facilities with a component of classroom work delivered through online instruction, which reduces the time needed to complete many of our curriculums and accelerates our graduates to their highly rewarding careers. We have realized instructional efficiencies, space efficiencies, and organizational productivity through Lincoln 10.0, and anticipate this trend continuing during 2026. Meanwhile, we continue to evaluate opportunities to expand into other underserved U.S. markets and build on our core operations growth. For instance, we've expanded investments in targeted high school initiatives that are leading to greater interest among students, parents, and school districts. At the same time, and further reflecting the shift in mindset, high schools are reaching out to us to explore how to offer our skilled trades programs to their students. We have achieved this flexibility by combining hands-on learning at campus facilities with a component of classroom work delivered through online instruction, which reduces the time needed to complete many of our curriculums and accelerates our graduates to their highly rewarding careers. we have achieved this flexibility by combining hands-on learning at campus facilities with a component of classroom work delivered through online instruction which reduces the time needed to complete many of our curriculums and accelerates our graduates to their highly rewarding careers We have realized instructional efficiencies, space efficiencies, and organizational productivity through Lincoln 10.0, and anticipate this trend continuing during 2026. we have realized instructional efficiencies space efficiencies and organizational productivity through lincoln 10.0 and anticipate this trend continuing during 2026 Meanwhile, we continue to evaluate opportunities to expand into other underserved U.S. markets and build on our core operations growth. meanwhile we continue to evaluate opportunities to expand into other underserved u.s markets and build on our core operations growth For instance, we've expanded investments in targeted high school initiatives that are leading to greater interest among students, parents, and school districts. for instance we've expanded investments in targeted high school initiatives that are leading to greater interest among students parents and school districts At the same time, and further reflecting the shift in mindset, high schools are reaching out to us to explore how to offer our skilled trades programs to their students. at the same time and further reflecting the shift in mindset high schools are reaching out to us to explore how to offer our skilled trades programs to their students Under what we call our High School Share program, students attend Lincoln classes during their junior and senior years of high school and then continue after high school to gain their certificate in less time, which accelerates their entry into a rewarding career. Our corporate partnerships are also important sources of additional profitability and hiring opportunities for our students. A couple of weeks ago, we signed an agreement with New Jersey Transit, under which our WorkforceLinc division will provide diesel and electrical systems training to New Jersey Transit technicians at New Jersey maintenance facilities. In addition, we expanded our highly successful partnership with Johnson Controls with a new initiative that will provide technicians for their growing data center AI business, and Container Maintenance Corporation also reached out to expand training to even more of their workforce. Under what we call our High School Share program, students attend Lincoln classes during their junior and senior years of high school and then continue after high school to gain their certificate in less time, which accelerates their entry into a rewarding career. under what we call our high school share program students attend lincoln classes during their junior and senior years of high school and then continue after high school to gain their certificate in less time which accelerates their entry into a rewarding career Our corporate partnerships are also important sources of additional profitability and hiring opportunities for our students. our corporate partnerships are also important sources of additional profitability and hiring opportunities for our students A couple of weeks ago, we signed an agreement with New Jersey Transit, under which our WorkforceLinc division will provide diesel and electrical systems training to New Jersey Transit technicians at New Jersey maintenance facilities. a couple of weeks ago we signed an agreement with new jersey transit under which our workforcelinc division will provide diesel and electrical systems training to new jersey transit technicians at new jersey maintenance facilities In addition, we expanded our highly successful partnership with Johnson Controls with a new initiative that will provide technicians for their growing data center AI business, and Container Maintenance Corporation also reached out to expand training to even more of their workforce. in addition we expanded our highly successful partnership with johnson controls with a new initiative that will provide technicians for their growing data center ai business and container maintenance corporation also reached out to expand training to even more of their workforce Landing new accounts while expanding existing relationships clearly demonstrates Lincoln Tech's ability to deliver high ROI training to employers desperate to grow their workforce. The opportunity ahead for our WorkforceLinc division is to effectively communicate the value proposition that we provide so we can meaningfully capture more business. Our 2026 guidance illustrates our confidence in continuing the growth trends at both existing and recently launched operations going forward. We now believe we could approach the $600 million revenue level for the full year. We have made great strides during 2025 at reducing our bad debt levels. This progress, along with our other operating efficiencies being realized throughout our operations, presents the opportunity to build on the exceptional adjusted EBITDA growth we experienced during the past year, while further enhancing the Lincoln student experience. Landing new accounts while expanding existing relationships clearly demonstrates Lincoln Tech's ability to deliver high ROI training to employers desperate to grow their workforce. landing new accounts while expanding existing relationships clearly demonstrates lincoln tech's ability to deliver high roi training to employers desperate to grow their workforce The opportunity ahead for our WorkforceLinc division is to effectively communicate the value proposition that we provide so we can meaningfully capture more business. the opportunity ahead for our workforcelinc division is to effectively communicate the value proposition that we provide so we can meaningfully capture more business Our 2026 guidance illustrates our confidence in continuing the growth trends at both existing and recently launched operations going forward. our 2026 guidance illustrates our confidence in continuing the growth trends at both existing and recently launched operations going forward We now believe we could approach the $600 million revenue level for the full year. we now believe we could approach the $600 million revenue level for the full year We have made great strides during 2025 at reducing our bad debt levels. we have made great strides during 2025 at reducing our bad debt levels This progress, along with our other operating efficiencies being realized throughout our operations, presents the opportunity to build on the exceptional adjusted EBITDA growth we experienced during the past year, while further enhancing the Lincoln student experience. this progress along with our other operating efficiencies being realized throughout our operations presents the opportunity to build on the exceptional adjusted ebitda growth we experienced during the past year while further enhancing the lincoln student experience We have established a standard of excellence within our programs that meet or exceed all regulatory standards, and we've continued to build our student placement rate, excuse me, in rewarding long-term careers. Our outlook for the year ahead is robust, and we look forward to presenting a full five-year roadmap during our Investor Day at our new Nashville campus on March 19th. For nearly 80 years, Lincoln has remained focused on delivering high-quality, life-changing career education, and no one else has our combination of longevity, scale, and proven experience. By continuing to execute our strategies to expand our network of schools and replicating our most in-demand programs at our existing campuses, we are well-positioned to help America close its chronic and severe skills gap by meeting the growing demand for more talented men and women to enter the skilled trades. We have established a standard of excellence within our programs that meet or exceed all regulatory standards, and we've continued to build our student placement rate, excuse me, in rewarding long-term careers. we have established a standard of excellence within our programs that meet or exceed all regulatory standards and we've continued to build our student placement rate excuse me in rewarding long-term careers Our outlook for the year ahead is robust, and we look forward to presenting a full five-year roadmap during our Investor Day at our new Nashville campus on March 19th. our outlook for the year ahead is robust and we look forward to presenting a full five-year roadmap during our investor day at our new nashville campus on march 19th For nearly 80 years, Lincoln has remained focused on delivering high-quality, life-changing career education, and no one else has our combination of longevity, scale, and proven experience. for nearly 80 years lincoln has remained focused on delivering high-quality life-changing career education and no one else has our combination of longevity scale and proven experience By continuing to execute our strategies to expand our network of schools and replicating our most in-demand programs at our existing campuses, we are well-positioned to help America close its chronic and severe skills gap by meeting the growing demand for more talented men and women to enter the skilled trades. by continuing to execute our strategies to expand our network of schools and replicating our most in-demand programs at our existing campuses we are well-positioned to help america close its chronic and severe skills gap by meeting the growing demand for more talented men and women to enter the skilled trades Finally, I'd like to note, aside from the Investor Day on March 19th, we'll be continuing our investor outreach efforts and continue to attend conferences and do non-deal roadshows with our covering analysts. Now I'll turn the call over to Brian Meyers, so he can review the financial highlights for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 and our 2026 guidance. Brian? Finally, I'd like to note, aside from the Investor Day on March 19th, we'll be continuing our investor outreach efforts and continue to attend conferences and do non-deal roadshows with our covering analysts. finally i'd like to note aside from the investor day on march 19th we'll be continuing our investor outreach efforts and continue to attend conferences and do non-deal roadshows with our covering analysts Now I'll turn the call over to Brian Meyers, so he can review the financial highlights for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 and our 2026 guidance. now i'll turn the call over to brian meyers so he can review the financial highlights for the fourth quarter and full year 2025 and our 2026 guidance Brian? brian

Speaker 2: Thank you, Scott. Good morning, everyone. From a financial perspective, Lincoln achieved many milestones during 2025. Our performance has positioned the company to achieve strong growth and increasing profitability, as reflected in our 2026 guidance and our long-term outlook. As Scott said in his remarks, we had an excellent finish to an already strong year. We outperformed our most recent guidance for revenue, net income, and adjusted EBITDA, while meeting student guidance with 15.2% growth year-over-year. I'll provide more detail on these results. First, I'll start with our fourth quarter performance. As a reminder, comparisons to the prior year will exclude the transitional segment, which consists of our former Summerlin Las Vegas campus, sold in late 2024. Fourth quarter revenue grew by $25.2 million, or 21.4% to $142.9 million. Thank you, Scott. thank you scott Good morning, everyone. good morning everyone From a financial perspective, Lincoln achieved many milestones during 2025. from a financial perspective lincoln achieved many milestones during 2025 Our performance has positioned the company to achieve strong growth and increasing profitability, as reflected in our 2026 guidance and our long-term outlook. our performance has positioned the company to achieve strong growth and increasing profitability as reflected in our 2026 guidance and our long-term outlook As Scott said in his remarks, we had an excellent finish to an already strong year. as scott said in his remarks we had an excellent finish to an already strong year We outperformed our most recent guidance for revenue, net income, and adjusted EBITDA, while meeting student guidance with 15.2% growth year-over-year. we outperformed our most recent guidance for revenue net income and adjusted ebitda while meeting student guidance with 15.2% growth year-over-year I'll provide more detail on these results. i'll provide more detail on these results First, I'll start with our fourth quarter performance. first i'll start with our fourth quarter performance As a reminder, comparisons to the prior year will exclude the transitional segment, which consists of our former Summerlin Las Vegas campus, sold in late 2024. as a reminder comparisons to the prior year will exclude the transitional segment which consists of our former summerlin las vegas campus sold in late 2024 Fourth quarter revenue grew by $25.2 million, or 21.4% to $142.9 million. fourth quarter revenue grew by $25.2 million or 21.4% to $142.9 million This growth was driven by a 17% increase in average student population and a 3.7% increase in revenue per student. We enrolled nearly 4,000 new students during Q4, representing start growth of 15.7% and extending our track record of consistent year-over-year growth to 13 consecutive quarters. An important contributor to our overall start growth in the quarter and throughout the year was our organic growth in starts, which accounted for approximately 4% of the growth. This excludes new campuses and program expansions launched in 2024 and 2025 and highlights the strong demand for our existing programs. Average student population grew 17%, year-end population increased nearly 15% to 17,000, representing over 2,200 more students than the prior year. This growth was driven by a 17% increase in average student population and a 3.7% increase in revenue per student. this growth was driven by a 17% increase in average student population and a 3.7% increase in revenue per student We enrolled nearly 4,000 new students during Q4, representing start growth of 15.7% and extending our track record of consistent year-over-year growth to 13 consecutive quarters. we enrolled nearly 4,000 new students during q4 representing start growth of 15.7% and extending our track record of consistent year-over-year growth to 13 consecutive quarters An important contributor to our overall start growth in the quarter and throughout the year was our organic growth in starts, which accounted for approximately 4% of the growth. an important contributor to our overall start growth in the quarter and throughout the year was our organic growth in starts which accounted for approximately 4% of the growth This excludes new campuses and program expansions launched in 2024 and 2025 and highlights the strong demand for our existing programs. this excludes new campuses and program expansions launched in 2024 and 2025 and highlights the strong demand for our existing programs Average student population grew 17%, year-end population increased nearly 15% to 17,000, representing over 2,200 more students than the prior year. average student population grew 17% year-end population increased nearly 15% to 17,000 representing over 2,200 more students than the prior year This is one of several factors positioning us for another strong year of growth in 2026. Diving into the quarter start growth. Transportation and skilled trades, which represents about 80% of our student population, generated start growth of 23.4%, including strong organic growth of approximately 7.5%. Healthcare and other professions represent approximately 20% of our population, and we saw our starts in this program decline 2%, which was in line with our expectations. This reflects our strategic decision to exit our culinary program in December of 2024. We are pleased to report that enrollments for nursing students at Paramus resumed last month. The pause in new nursing starts at Paramus was another main factor, reducing starts in the HOPS programs last year. This is one of several factors positioning us for another strong year of growth in 2026. this is one of several factors positioning us for another strong year of growth in 2026 Diving into the quarter start growth. diving into the quarter start growth Transportation and skilled trades, which represents about 80% of our student population, generated start growth of 23.4%, including strong organic growth of approximately 7.5%. transportation and skilled trades which represents about 80% of our student population generated start growth of 23.4% including strong organic growth of approximately 7.5% Healthcare and other professions represent approximately 20% of our population, and we saw our starts in this program decline 2%, which was in line with our expectations. healthcare and other professions represent approximately 20% of our population and we saw our starts in this program decline 2% which was in line with our expectations This reflects our strategic decision to exit our culinary program in December of 2024. this reflects our strategic decision to exit our culinary program in december of 2024 We are pleased to report that enrollments for nursing students at Paramus resumed last month. we are pleased to report that enrollments for nursing students at paramus resumed last month The pause in new nursing starts at Paramus was another main factor, reducing starts in the HOPS programs last year. the pause in new nursing starts at paramus was another main factor reducing starts in the hops programs last year Excluding the culinary program, HOPS starts showed moderate growth as we continued to focus on strengthening our core offerings. Turning to expenses. Total operating expenses were $125.1 million, up $19 million, in line with expectations, reflecting higher costs to support our larger student population and growth initiatives. Depreciation expense increased $3.5 million due to our recent high level of growth-related capital investments in campus facilities. Excluding depreciation, education, service, and facility expenses improved to 33% of revenue from 34.7%, reflecting instructional efficiencies from our hybrid teaching model. SG&A expenses also demonstrated operating leverage, improving to 49.8% of revenue from 51.6%. Excluding the culinary program, HOPS starts showed moderate growth as we continued to focus on strengthening our core offerings. excluding the culinary program hops starts showed moderate growth as we continued to focus on strengthening our core offerings Turning to expenses. turning to expenses Total operating expenses were $125.1 million, up $19 million, in line with expectations, reflecting higher costs to support our larger student population and growth initiatives. total operating expenses were $125.1 million up $19 million in line with expectations reflecting higher costs to support our larger student population and growth initiatives Depreciation expense increased $3.5 million due to our recent high level of growth-related capital investments in campus facilities. depreciation expense increased $3.5 million due to our recent high level of growth-related capital investments in campus facilities Excluding depreciation, education, service, and facility expenses improved to 33% of revenue from 34.7%, reflecting instructional efficiencies from our hybrid teaching model. excluding depreciation education service and facility expenses improved to 33% of revenue from 34.7% reflecting instructional efficiencies from our hybrid teaching model SG&A expenses also demonstrated operating leverage, improving to 49.8% of revenue from 51.6%. sg&a expenses also demonstrated operating leverage improving to 49.8% of revenue from 51.6% This improvement was supported in part by lower bad debt expense as a percentage of revenue, which declined to 10.9% from 13.1%, reflecting enhancements to our financial aid process and stronger collections. Adjusted EBITDA increased 51.2% to $29.1 million, including the transitional segment. This growth demonstrates the strong operating leverage we are building, with EBITDA margin expanding more than 400 basis points to 20.4%. Lastly, net income increased over 70%, up to $12.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share. Adjusted net income increased to $15.8 million, or $0.50 per diluted share on 31.4 million diluted shares outstanding. Our full-year results. Revenue grew 19.7%-... This improvement was supported in part by lower bad debt expense as a percentage of revenue, which declined to 10.9% from 13.1%, reflecting enhancements to our financial aid process and stronger collections. this improvement was supported in part by lower bad debt expense as a percentage of revenue which declined to 10.9% from 13.1% reflecting enhancements to our financial aid process and stronger collections Adjusted EBITDA increased 51.2% to $29.1 million, including the transitional segment. adjusted ebitda increased 51.2% to $29.1 million including the transitional segment This growth demonstrates the strong operating leverage we are building, with EBITDA margin expanding more than 400 basis points to 20.4%. this growth demonstrates the strong operating leverage we are building with ebitda margin expanding more than 400 basis points to 20.4% Lastly, net income increased over 70%, up to $12.7 million, or $0.40 per diluted share. lastly net income increased over 70% up to $12.7 million or $0.40 per diluted share Adjusted net income increased to $15.8 million, or $0.50 per diluted share on 31.4 million diluted shares outstanding. adjusted net income increased to $15.8 million or $0.50 per diluted share on 31.4 million diluted shares outstanding Our full-year results. our full-year results Revenue grew 19.7%-... revenue grew 19.7%- to $518.2 million, driven by a 17.9% growth in average student population. Total starts grew to approximately 21,000, up 15.2%, with organic start growth accounting for more than half of this increase. Adjusted EBITDA rose 60% to $67.1 million, including the transitional segment, and adjusted net income increased 64% to $28.4 million. Consistent with our seasonality, the fourth quarter was our strongest cash-generating quarter. Operating cash flow totaled $59.3 million, more than double the prior year. We ended the year with nearly $29 million in cash and approximately $90 million in total liquidity, with no debt outstanding. Capital expenditures for 2025 totaled $88 million, of which $86.6 million is reflect on the statement of cash flow. Approximately 70% of total CapEx related to growth initiatives. to $518.2 million, driven by a 17.9% growth in average student population. to $518.2 million driven by a 17.9% growth in average student population Total starts grew to approximately 21,000, up 15.2%, with organic start growth accounting for more than half of this increase. total starts grew to approximately 21,000 up 15.2% with organic start growth accounting for more than half of this increase Adjusted EBITDA rose 60% to $67.1 million, including the transitional segment, and adjusted net income increased 64% to $28.4 million. adjusted ebitda rose 60% to $67.1 million including the transitional segment and adjusted net income increased 64% to $28.4 million Consistent with our seasonality, the fourth quarter was our strongest cash-generating quarter. consistent with our seasonality the fourth quarter was our strongest cash-generating quarter Operating cash flow totaled $59.3 million, more than double the prior year. operating cash flow totaled $59.3 million more than double the prior year We ended the year with nearly $29 million in cash and approximately $90 million in total liquidity, with no debt outstanding. we ended the year with nearly $29 million in cash and approximately $90 million in total liquidity with no debt outstanding Capital expenditures for 2025 totaled $88 million, of which $86.6 million is reflect on the statement of cash flow. capital expenditures for 2025 totaled $88 million of which $86.6 million is reflect on the statement of cash flow Approximately 70% of total CapEx related to growth initiatives. approximately 70% of total capex related to growth initiatives We exceeded our CapEx guidance due to opportunities to accelerate construction activity at campuses under development, shifting spend from 2026 into 2025, while maintaining original campus opening timelines and budgets. As part of our CapEx growth projects, we completed 2 campus relocations, which included the launch of a total of 5 new programs. Additionally, we completed 2 program expansions and added 4 new programs at our existing campuses. Within 3 years, we expect each of these programs to generate on average, around $1 million in incremental EBITDA, contributing significantly to future profitability. Looking ahead, based on our current trends and visibility, we are providing the following guidance for 2026. Revenue of $580 million-$590 million. Adjusted EBITDA, $72 million-$76 million. Net income, $20 million-$23 million. Diluted EPS, $0.64-$0.74. Student start growth of 8%-13%. We exceeded our CapEx guidance due to opportunities to accelerate construction activity at campuses under development, shifting spend from 2026 into 2025, while maintaining original campus opening timelines and budgets. we exceeded our capex guidance due to opportunities to accelerate construction activity at campuses under development shifting spend from 2026 into 2025 while maintaining original campus opening timelines and budgets As part of our CapEx growth projects, we completed 2 campus relocations, which included the launch of a total of 5 new programs. as part of our capex growth projects we completed 2 campus relocations which included the launch of a total of 5 new programs Additionally, we completed 2 program expansions and added 4 new programs at our existing campuses. additionally we completed 2 program expansions and added 4 new programs at our existing campuses Within 3 years, we expect each of these programs to generate on average, around $1 million in incremental EBITDA, contributing significantly to future profitability. within 3 years we expect each of these programs to generate on average around $1 million in incremental ebitda contributing significantly to future profitability Looking ahead, based on our current trends and visibility, we are providing the following guidance for 2026. looking ahead based on our current trends and visibility we are providing the following guidance for 2026 Revenue of $580 million-$590 million. revenue of $580 million-$590 million Adjusted EBITDA, $72 million-$76 million. adjusted ebitda $72 million-$76 million Net income, $20 million-$23 million. net income $20 million-$23 million Diluted EPS, $0.64-$0.74. diluted eps $0.64-$0.74 Student start growth of 8%-13%. student start growth of 8%-13% Capital expenditures ranging from $70 million-$75 million. Let me provide some additional context around our guidance. Historically, we excluded pre-opening costs as well as net operating losses during the first year of operations from new campuses, as well as pre-launch expenses from program replications from adjusted EBITDA. Beginning in 2026, we will no longer make those adjustments. Adjusted EBITDA will reflect only the add back of non-cash start-based compensation. Historically, these excluded expenses totaled approximately $10 million in both 2024 and 2025. We estimate to incur a similar amount of $10 million of expenses related to new campuses and program development in 2026 as we continue to invest in our growth initiatives, especially our new campus openings in Hicksville, Long Island, and Rowlett, Texas. Capital expenditures ranging from $70 million-$75 million. capital expenditures ranging from $70 million-$75 million Let me provide some additional context around our guidance. let me provide some additional context around our guidance Historically, we excluded pre-opening costs as well as net operating losses during the first year of operations from new campuses, as well as pre-launch expenses from program replications from adjusted EBITDA. historically we excluded pre-opening costs as well as net operating losses during the first year of operations from new campuses as well as pre-launch expenses from program replications from adjusted ebitda Beginning in 2026, we will no longer make those adjustments. beginning in 2026 we will no longer make those adjustments Adjusted EBITDA will reflect only the add back of non-cash start-based compensation. adjusted ebitda will reflect only the add back of non-cash start-based compensation Historically, these excluded expenses totaled approximately $10 million in both 2024 and 2025. historically these excluded expenses totaled approximately $10 million in both 2024 and 2025 We estimate to incur a similar amount of $10 million of expenses related to new campuses and program development in 2026 as we continue to invest in our growth initiatives, especially our new campus openings in Hicksville, Long Island, and Rowlett, Texas. we estimate to incur a similar amount of $10 million of expenses related to new campuses and program development in 2026 as we continue to invest in our growth initiatives especially our new campus openings in hicksville long island and rowlett texas While we will no longer exclude these investment expenses from our calculation of adjusted EBITDA, we will continue to provide investors with our expected levels of these expenses, along with the actual amounts incurred each quarter. We believe this added transparency will help investors better understanding our operating results and the profitability of our active campuses. All of our key financial metrics are expected to grow at a healthy pace in 2026. Revenue is expected to grow approximately 13%, following the same seasonality as 2025. Starts are expected to generate high single-digit to low double-digit growth over the prior year period in each quarter. Adjusted EBITDA growth is expected to be approximately 30% for 2026. Consistent with our seasonality, we project to generate the highest adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. While we will no longer exclude these investment expenses from our calculation of adjusted EBITDA, we will continue to provide investors with our expected levels of these expenses, along with the actual amounts incurred each quarter. while we will no longer exclude these investment expenses from our calculation of adjusted ebitda we will continue to provide investors with our expected levels of these expenses along with the actual amounts incurred each quarter We believe this added transparency will help investors better understanding our operating results and the profitability of our active campuses. we believe this added transparency will help investors better understanding our operating results and the profitability of our active campuses All of our key financial metrics are expected to grow at a healthy pace in 2026. all of our key financial metrics are expected to grow at a healthy pace in 2026 Revenue is expected to grow approximately 13%, following the same seasonality as 2025. revenue is expected to grow approximately 13% following the same seasonality as 2025 Starts are expected to generate high single-digit to low double-digit growth over the prior year period in each quarter. starts are expected to generate high single-digit to low double-digit growth over the prior year period in each quarter Adjusted EBITDA growth is expected to be approximately 30% for 2026. adjusted ebitda growth is expected to be approximately 30% for 2026 Consistent with our seasonality, we project to generate the highest adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter. consistent with our seasonality we project to generate the highest adjusted ebitda in the fourth quarter The higher growth rate for adjusted EBITDA compared to our projected revenue growth reflects the operating leverage of our business model. Net income is projected to grow a little bit, a little more modestly by approximately 7.5% year-over-year, trailing adjusted EBITDA growth due to significant increases in depreciation expense. Depreciation is projected to increase to $33 million from $20.8 million in 2025. We anticipate total depreciation expense to be fairly even each quarter through the year. This increase reflects capital investments made in recent years related to new campuses, campus relocations, new programs, and program expansions. Over the past three years, these initiatives have accounted for the vast majority of our $185 million in net capital expenditures. The higher growth rate for adjusted EBITDA compared to our projected revenue growth reflects the operating leverage of our business model. the higher growth rate for adjusted ebitda compared to our projected revenue growth reflects the operating leverage of our business model Net income is projected to grow a little bit, a little more modestly by approximately 7.5% year-over-year, trailing adjusted EBITDA growth due to significant increases in depreciation expense. net income is projected to grow a little bit a little more modestly by approximately 7.5% year-over-year trailing adjusted ebitda growth due to significant increases in depreciation expense Depreciation is projected to increase to $33 million from $20.8 million in 2025. depreciation is projected to increase to $33 million from $20.8 million in 2025 We anticipate total depreciation expense to be fairly even each quarter through the year. we anticipate total depreciation expense to be fairly even each quarter through the year This increase reflects capital investments made in recent years related to new campuses, campus relocations, new programs, and program expansions. this increase reflects capital investments made in recent years related to new campuses campus relocations new programs and program expansions Over the past three years, these initiatives have accounted for the vast majority of our $185 million in net capital expenditures. over the past three years these initiatives have accounted for the vast majority of our $185 million in net capital expenditures As new campuses open and programs scale, these investments will mature and begin generating returns, allowing net income growth to more closely align with our adjusted EBITDA performance. For the full year, we expect net income in the first half of the year to be comparable or slightly down from the prior year, mostly due to depreciation with growth in the second half of the year. We anticipate the fourth quarter to be our strongest quarter of the year, driving the majority of our overall improvement. Regarding capital expenditures, we expect the majority of spend to occur in the first half of the year, with approximately 70% allocated to growth initiatives, including new campuses and program expansions. The remaining capital will be focused on enhancing our facilities, classrooms, and training equipment to further improve the student experience. As new campuses open and programs scale, these investments will mature and begin generating returns, allowing net income growth to more closely align with our adjusted EBITDA performance. as new campuses open and programs scale these investments will mature and begin generating returns allowing net income growth to more closely align with our adjusted ebitda performance For the full year, we expect net income in the first half of the year to be comparable or slightly down from the prior year, mostly due to depreciation with growth in the second half of the year. for the full year we expect net income in the first half of the year to be comparable or slightly down from the prior year mostly due to depreciation with growth in the second half of the year We anticipate the fourth quarter to be our strongest quarter of the year, driving the majority of our overall improvement. we anticipate the fourth quarter to be our strongest quarter of the year driving the majority of our overall improvement Regarding capital expenditures, we expect the majority of spend to occur in the first half of the year, with approximately 70% allocated to growth initiatives, including new campuses and program expansions. regarding capital expenditures we expect the majority of spend to occur in the first half of the year with approximately 70% allocated to growth initiatives including new campuses and program expansions The remaining capital will be focused on enhancing our facilities, classrooms, and training equipment to further improve the student experience. the remaining capital will be focused on enhancing our facilities classrooms and training equipment to further improve the student experience While CapEx will remain at a robust level of $70 million-$75 million in 2026, it is now comparable to our adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow, both of which have grown significantly. As a result, although we expect to utilize our credit facility during the year, based on our current announced campus expansion plans to date, we anticipate finishing 2026 with no debt outstanding once again. Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $5 million, primarily driven by increased borrowings. In terms of timing, we anticipate expenses to be relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, with slightly higher levels in the second and third quarters. Our income tax provision is expected to be approximately 29% of pre-tax income. While CapEx will remain at a robust level of $70 million-$75 million in 2026, it is now comparable to our adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow, both of which have grown significantly. while capex will remain at a robust level of $70 million-$75 million in 2026 it is now comparable to our adjusted ebitda and operating cash flow both of which have grown significantly As a result, although we expect to utilize our credit facility during the year, based on our current announced campus expansion plans to date, we anticipate finishing 2026 with no debt outstanding once again. as a result although we expect to utilize our credit facility during the year based on our current announced campus expansion plans to date we anticipate finishing 2026 with no debt outstanding once again Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $5 million, primarily driven by increased borrowings. net interest expense is expected to be approximately $5 million primarily driven by increased borrowings In terms of timing, we anticipate expenses to be relatively evenly distributed throughout the year, with slightly higher levels in the second and third quarters. in terms of timing we anticipate expenses to be relatively evenly distributed throughout the year with slightly higher levels in the second and third quarters Our income tax provision is expected to be approximately 29% of pre-tax income. our income tax provision is expected to be approximately 29% of pre-tax income Lastly, we forecast our diluted weighted average common shares outstanding to range from 31.1 million-31.4 million for the quarters and approximately 31.2 million for the year. In closing, we are proud of our 2025 performance and enter 2026 with strong momentum and confidence in our continued strength of our business. As Scott mentioned, we will be sharing our 5-year outlook at our Investor Day on March 19th, at our newly relocated Nashville, Tennessee, campus. I want to thank our Lincoln team for their dedication and commitment to delivering exceptional education while creating long-term value for both students and shareholders. Now I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator? Lastly, we forecast our diluted weighted average common shares outstanding to range from 31.1 million-31.4 million for the quarters and approximately 31.2 million for the year. lastly we forecast our diluted weighted average common shares outstanding to range from 31.1 million-31.4 million for the quarters and approximately 31.2 million for the year In closing, we are proud of our 2025 performance and enter 2026 with strong momentum and confidence in our continued strength of our business. in closing we are proud of our 2025 performance and enter 2026 with strong momentum and confidence in our continued strength of our business As Scott mentioned, we will be sharing our 5-year outlook at our Investor Day on March 19th, at our newly relocated Nashville, Tennessee, campus. as scott mentioned we will be sharing our 5-year outlook at our investor day on march 19th at our newly relocated nashville tennessee campus I want to thank our Lincoln team for their dedication and commitment to delivering exceptional education while creating long-term value for both students and shareholders. i want to thank our lincoln team for their dedication and commitment to delivering exceptional education while creating long-term value for both students and shareholders Now I'll turn the call over to the operator for questions. now i'll turn the call over to the operator for questions Operator? operator

Speaker 7: Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again, we ask that you please limit to one question, one follow-up, and if you have additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. Our first question will come from Alex Paris with Barrington Research. Your line is now open. Thank you. thank you As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. as a reminder to ask a question please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced To withdraw your question, please press * 1 1 again, we ask that you please limit to one question, one follow-up, and if you have additional questions, you may rejoin the queue. to withdraw your question please press * 1 1 again we ask that you please limit to one question one follow-up and if you have additional questions you may rejoin the queue Our first question will come from Alex Paris with Barrington Research. our first question will come from alex paris with barrington research Your line is now open. your line is now open

Speaker 1: Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Congrats on the strong finish to the year. Looking forward to Investor Day and the 5-year targets. Hi, guys. hi guys Thanks for taking my questions. thanks for taking my questions Congrats on the strong finish to the year. congrats on the strong finish to the year Looking forward to Investor Day and the 5-year targets. looking forward to investor day and the 5-year targets

Speaker 9: Thanks, Alex. So, so are we. Thanks, Alex. thanks alex So, so are we. so so are we

Speaker 1: Great. I'll focus my questions on demand, which continues to be very strong across the board, from organic growth to new campuses and program replications. You make some allusion in your overall, your prepared comments about increased investment in your high school initiatives. Can you maybe go over that with us a little bit? Great. great I'll focus my questions on demand, which continues to be very strong across the board, from organic growth to new campuses and program replications. i'll focus my questions on demand which continues to be very strong across the board from organic growth to new campuses and program replications You make some allusion in your overall, your prepared comments about increased investment in your high school initiatives. you make some allusion in your overall your prepared comments about increased investment in your high school initiatives Can you maybe go over that with us a little bit? can you maybe go over that with us a little bit

Speaker 9: Sure. Excuse me. Historically, we've been getting about 20% of our students from the high school market, and even though we've been doing that, there have always been high schools that have been, I'll say, hesitant to let us in to talk to their students. Over the last 24 months, that has been changing. As the market is being far more receptive and as we're hearing more comments from high school parents and guidance counselors, that the trades really are important to them and their students, we're basically investing and putting more talent out there to go out to more high schools to recruit more high school students. Sure. sure Excuse me. excuse me Historically, we've been getting about 20% of our students from the high school market, and even though we've been doing that, there have always been high schools that have been, I'll say, hesitant to let us in to talk to their students. historically we've been getting about 20% of our students from the high school market and even though we've been doing that there have always been high schools that have been i'll say hesitant to let us in to talk to their students Over the last 24 months, that has been changing. over the last 24 months that has been changing As the market is being far more receptive and as we're hearing more comments from high school parents and guidance counselors, that the trades really are important to them and their students, we're basically investing and putting more talent out there to go out to more high schools to recruit more high school students. as the market is being far more receptive and as we're hearing more comments from high school parents and guidance counselors that the trades really are important to them and their students we're basically investing and putting more talent out there to go out to more high schools to recruit more high school students I think it's the right time, the mood is right, and we're gonna lean into that as much as possible, and I'm anticipating, that we'll get, start getting more growth. We did grow our high school business this year. It'll grow again next year, but I think the real kickers will come, frankly, in 2027 and 2028. Building high school teams is a long-term investment play. As you know, you're meeting with students, you're meeting with guidance counselors in the fall and the spring and waiting for those students to then start in the summer. We've already made good progress, and we've established some new relationships, but I really anticipate that that's gonna, really, ramp up much more so, as I said, 12 months and 24 months from now. I think it's the right time, the mood is right, and we're gonna lean into that as much as possible, and I'm anticipating, that we'll get, start getting more growth. i think it's the right time the mood is right and we're gonna lean into that as much as possible and i'm anticipating that we'll get start getting more growth We did grow our high school business this year. we did grow our high school business this year It'll grow again next year, but I think the real kickers will come, frankly, in 2027 and 2028. it'll grow again next year but i think the real kickers will come frankly in 2027 and 2028 Building high school teams is a long-term investment play. building high school teams is a long-term investment play As you know, you're meeting with students, you're meeting with guidance counselors in the fall and the spring and waiting for those students to then start in the summer. as you know you're meeting with students you're meeting with guidance counselors in the fall and the spring and waiting for those students to then start in the summer We've already made good progress, and we've established some new relationships, but I really anticipate that that's gonna, really, ramp up much more so, as I said, 12 months and 24 months from now. we've already made good progress and we've established some new relationships but i really anticipate that that's gonna really ramp up much more so as i said 12 months and 24 months from now

Speaker 1: That makes sense, and that's great color. I appreciate that. Then my follow-up question, I guess, would be just looking at the results by program. As you said in the prepared comments, transportation and skilled trades were up 23% in the quarter and the year, down in the quarter and the year for healthcare and other professions. I think you called out culinary program in 2024, which was eliminated, and Paramus wasn't able to enroll new nursing students for a while. Maybe just a little bit more color on healthcare and other professions. If you exclude those two, you know, what is the balance of the healthcare and other profession business doing right now? That makes sense, and that's great color. that makes sense and that's great color I appreciate that. i appreciate that Then my follow-up question, I guess, would be just looking at the results by program. then my follow-up question i guess would be just looking at the results by program As you said in the prepared comments, transportation and skilled trades were up 23% in the quarter and the year, down in the quarter and the year for healthcare and other professions. as you said in the prepared comments transportation and skilled trades were up 23% in the quarter and the year down in the quarter and the year for healthcare and other professions I think you called out culinary program in 2024, which was eliminated, and Paramus wasn't able to enroll new nursing students for a while. i think you called out culinary program in 2024 which was eliminated and paramus wasn't able to enroll new nursing students for a while Maybe just a little bit more color on healthcare and other professions. maybe just a little bit more color on healthcare and other professions If you exclude those two, you know, what is the balance of the healthcare and other profession business doing right now? if you exclude those two you know what is the balance of the healthcare and other profession business doing right now

Speaker 9: Yes. Thanks, Alex, and, and good points. Yes, well, first of all, in 2026, we expect that the healthcare sector will be growing. As you mentioned, we are able to now re-enroll at our Paramus campus, so we'll be able to grow and enroll students at all 7 of our LPN campuses. Somewhat put that in perspective, we, we closed out 2025 with maybe 40 students in our LPN program at Paramus, and before we were stopped from enrolling students there, we had over 250 students at that campus. I'm anticipating that that's gonna start ramping up again, which is gonna help us grow our healthcare sector. As you mentioned, we did exit, and we've been exiting over the last couple of years,... programs that we know just don't provide the strongest ROI. Yes. yes Thanks, Alex, and, and good points. thanks alex and and good points Yes, well, first of all, in 2026, we expect that the healthcare sector will be growing. yes well first of all in 2026 we expect that the healthcare sector will be growing As you mentioned, we are able to now re-enroll at our Paramus campus, so we'll be able to grow and enroll students at all 7 of our LPN campuses. as you mentioned we are able to now re-enroll at our paramus campus so we'll be able to grow and enroll students at all 7 of our lpn campuses Somewhat put that in perspective, we, we closed out 2025 with maybe 40 students in our LPN program at Paramus, and before we were stopped from enrolling students there, we had over 250 students at that campus. somewhat put that in perspective we we closed out 2025 with maybe 40 students in our lpn program at paramus and before we were stopped from enrolling students there we had over 250 students at that campus I'm anticipating that that's gonna start ramping up again, which is gonna help us grow our healthcare sector. i'm anticipating that that's gonna start ramping up again which is gonna help us grow our healthcare sector As you mentioned, we did exit, and we've been exiting over the last couple of years,... programs that we know just don't provide the strongest ROI. as you mentioned we did exit and we've been exiting over the last couple of years programs that we know just don't provide the strongest roi We exited everything basically in the hospitality area, which include culinary. While we had great employers, as I said in the past, whether it's Disney, Marriott, and various chains coming to hire our chefs, they just don't pay a lot. The recent data that came out from the department in January, that kind of highlighted, it's their version of gainful employment. I'm happy to say that all of our programs clearly pass the threshold, and that's due to the fact that, frankly, we just exited those programs that didn't do well, such as cosmetology and culinary. We're really poised for more growth, where we've taken all the right moves, so it puts us in a good position. You know, just like I said, we're leaning into high school. We exited everything basically in the hospitality area, which include culinary. we exited everything basically in the hospitality area which include culinary While we had great employers, as I said in the past, whether it's Disney, Marriott, and various chains coming to hire our chefs, they just don't pay a lot. while we had great employers as i said in the past whether it's disney marriott and various chains coming to hire our chefs they just don't pay a lot The recent data that came out from the department in January, that kind of highlighted, it's their version of gainful employment. the recent data that came out from the department in january that kind of highlighted it's their version of gainful employment I'm happy to say that all of our programs clearly pass the threshold, and that's due to the fact that, frankly, we just exited those programs that didn't do well, such as cosmetology and culinary. i'm happy to say that all of our programs clearly pass the threshold and that's due to the fact that frankly we just exited those programs that didn't do well such as cosmetology and culinary We're really poised for more growth, where we've taken all the right moves, so it puts us in a good position. we're really poised for more growth where we've taken all the right moves so it puts us in a good position You know, just like I said, we're leaning into high school. you know just like i said we're leaning into high school We're also gonna continue to lead into the skilled trades and automotive. We just continue to see interest and demand from employers and students in both of those areas. We're also gonna continue to lead into the skilled trades and automotive. we're also gonna continue to lead into the skilled trades and automotive We just continue to see interest and demand from employers and students in both of those areas. we just continue to see interest and demand from employers and students in both of those areas

Speaker 1: That's great. If I were to have a third question, that would have been my last one, the earnings test. You said, just to be clear, that all your programs passed the threshold? That's great. that's great If I were to have a third question, that would have been my last one, the earnings test. if i were to have a third question that would have been my last one the earnings test You said, just to be clear, that all your programs passed the threshold? you said just to be clear that all your programs passed the threshold

Speaker 9: That is correct. That is correct. That is correct. that is correct That is correct. that is correct

Speaker 1: Excellent. All right, well, thank you very much. Congrats, and I'll get back in the queue. Excellent. excellent All right, well, thank you very much. all right well thank you very much Congrats, and I'll get back in the queue. congrats and i'll get back in the queue

Speaker 9: Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Alex. thanks alex

Speaker 7: Thank you. Our next question will come from Luke Horton with Northland Capital. Your line's open. Thank you. thank you Our next question will come from Luke Horton with Northland Capital. our next question will come from luke horton with northland capital Your line's open. your line's open

Speaker 5: Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on a really, really strong end of the year here. Just wanted to start with sort of the, the 2026 outlook. If you could dive into some of the, some of the puts and takes or assumptions baked into that guide, from an organic perspective versus new campuses, continued hybrid learning rollout, just kind of your thoughts around the 2026 guide. Hey, guys. hey guys Thanks for taking the questions, and congrats on a really, really strong end of the year here. thanks for taking the questions and congrats on a really really strong end of the year here Just wanted to start with sort of the, the 2026 outlook. just wanted to start with sort of the the 2026 outlook If you could dive into some of the, some of the puts and takes or assumptions baked into that guide, from an organic perspective versus new campuses, continued hybrid learning rollout, just kind of your thoughts around the 2026 guide. if you could dive into some of the some of the puts and takes or assumptions baked into that guide from an organic perspective versus new campuses continued hybrid learning rollout just kind of your thoughts around the 2026 guide

Speaker 9: Sure. I'll start off, Brian, then you, you can fill in anything. Sure. sure I'll start off, Brian, then you, you can fill in anything. i'll start off brian then you you can fill in anything

Speaker 2: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 9: We, we expect to see continued trends that we've experienced. As we mentioned, in 2025, about half of our growth was from organic business, so that's growing existing programs at our existing campuses. I anticipate that that's going to continue, maybe not at the same level that it did this year, just as the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger, but it will be meaningful. Then second of all, we do see the prospect of all the programs that we've put in place in the new campuses that we're opening. That really gives us the confidence to give you this guidance for starts, and I'm anticipating that trends continue. We'll, we'll certainly be at the middle to the high end of that range. Then, as you know, that's what drives everything else. We, we expect to see continued trends that we've experienced. we we expect to see continued trends that we've experienced As we mentioned, in 2025, about half of our growth was from organic business, so that's growing existing programs at our existing campuses. as we mentioned in 2025 about half of our growth was from organic business so that's growing existing programs at our existing campuses I anticipate that that's going to continue, maybe not at the same level that it did this year, just as the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger, but it will be meaningful. i anticipate that that's going to continue maybe not at the same level that it did this year just as the numbers keep getting bigger and bigger but it will be meaningful Then second of all, we do see the prospect of all the programs that we've put in place in the new campuses that we're opening. then second of all we do see the prospect of all the programs that we've put in place in the new campuses that we're opening That really gives us the confidence to give you this guidance for starts, and I'm anticipating that trends continue. that really gives us the confidence to give you this guidance for starts and i'm anticipating that trends continue We'll, we'll certainly be at the middle to the high end of that range. we'll we'll certainly be at the middle to the high end of that range Then, as you know, that's what drives everything else. then as you know that's what drives everything else It drives the revenue, and given the efficiencies we have with our hybrid model and given where we are with the number of students in the classroom, as we continue to increase those student-teacher ratios, as we continue to increase the density at our campuses, those additional dollars do drop to the bottom line. We're using, you know, about a 30% number of additional revenue dropping to the bottom line, and that's what gives you the profitability, and that just flows through the income statement. I don't know, Brian, anything else? It drives the revenue, and given the efficiencies we have with our hybrid model and given where we are with the number of students in the classroom, as we continue to increase those student-teacher ratios, as we continue to increase the density at our campuses, those additional dollars do drop to the bottom line. it drives the revenue and given the efficiencies we have with our hybrid model and given where we are with the number of students in the classroom as we continue to increase those student-teacher ratios as we continue to increase the density at our campuses those additional dollars do drop to the bottom line We're using, you know, about a 30% number of additional revenue dropping to the bottom line, and that's what gives you the profitability, and that just flows through the income statement. we're using you know about a 30% number of additional revenue dropping to the bottom line and that's what gives you the profitability and that just flows through the income statement I don't know, Brian, anything else? i don't know brian anything else

Speaker 2: Well, yeah, yeah, you just about covered everything. The only thing I'll add is for the new campuses, let's say Houston, as well as our new Long Island campus that's come in the fourth quarter, revenue for them is about 10%. As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, you know, they're anticipated to have losses, that and some new programs over approximately about $10 million. So, it's really not, you know, for 2026 adding to our profitability. Well, yeah, yeah, you just about covered everything. well yeah yeah you just about covered everything The only thing I'll add is for the new campuses, let's say Houston, as well as our new Long Island campus that's come in the fourth quarter, revenue for them is about 10%. the only thing i'll add is for the new campuses let's say houston as well as our new long island campus that's come in the fourth quarter revenue for them is about 10% As I mentioned in my prepared remarks, you know, they're anticipated to have losses, that and some new programs over approximately about $10 million. as i mentioned in my prepared remarks you know they're anticipated to have losses that and some new programs over approximately about $10 million So, it's really not, you know, for 2026 adding to our profitability. so it's really not you know for 2026 adding to our profitability

Speaker 5: Okay. Got it. That, that's very helpful. Then just my follow-up would be on, last call you had mentioned that the East Point campus, after outperforming expectations, you announced that incremental, like, 15,000 sq ft expansion, which could add about 500 student capacity. I guess, any update on that timeline? I guess, are you guys seeing any, any other opportunities to do this with existing campuses, or, or is there any relocation opportunities like you've done with, with Nashville and Philadelphia? Okay. okay Got it. got it That, that's very helpful. that that's very helpful Then just my follow-up would be on, last call you had mentioned that the East Point campus, after outperforming expectations, you announced that incremental, like, 15,000 sq ft expansion, which could add about 500 student capacity. then just my follow-up would be on last call you had mentioned that the east point campus after outperforming expectations you announced that incremental like 15,000 sq ft expansion which could add about 500 student capacity I guess, any update on that timeline? i guess any update on that timeline I guess, are you guys seeing any, any other opportunities to do this with existing campuses, or, or is there any relocation opportunities like you've done with, with Nashville and Philadelphia? i guess are you guys seeing any any other opportunities to do this with existing campuses or or is there any relocation opportunities like you've done with with nashville and philadelphia

Speaker 9: Sure, I'll take that. The, the new space will open up later this year, so we'll start getting incremental bodies, students from that. That's really gonna, you know, help maybe a little bit in the fourth quarter of this year, but really more so in 2027 for the East Point campus. I'll also just tell you that at both the Houston campus and the Levittown campus that we opened up, in both of those facilities, we have about 10,000-15,000 sq ft of space that we haven't yet built out. We can see what resonates in those markets to either grow our existing programs or to add new programs down the line. As I mentioned, last time at our Melrose campus, we did close out our collision program, which opened up space. Sure, I'll take that. sure i'll take that The, the new space will open up later this year, so we'll start getting incremental bodies, students from that. the the new space will open up later this year so we'll start getting incremental bodies students from that That's really gonna, you know, help maybe a little bit in the fourth quarter of this year, but really more so in 2027 for the East Point campus. that's really gonna you know help maybe a little bit in the fourth quarter of this year but really more so in 2027 for the east point campus I'll also just tell you that at both the Houston campus and the Levittown campus that we opened up, in both of those facilities, we have about 10,000-15,000 sq ft of space that we haven't yet built out. i'll also just tell you that at both the houston campus and the levittown campus that we opened up in both of those facilities we have about 10,000-15,000 sq ft of space that we haven't yet built out We can see what resonates in those markets to either grow our existing programs or to add new programs down the line. we can see what resonates in those markets to either grow our existing programs or to add new programs down the line As I mentioned, last time at our Melrose campus, we did close out our collision program, which opened up space. as i mentioned last time at our melrose campus we did close out our collision program which opened up space Our collision program at that time had maybe 60 students or so in it, and we were able to close that down, add 40 more welding booths to that location, add an HVAC program, as well as our 3rd Tesla training center. I can tell you that we are looking at doing a similar type of operation like that at our Grand Prairie campus, where we were gonna scale back our collision program there to open up more space, frankly, to, to continue to grow our electrical program. There are select opportunities out there, and we, we just constantly just kind of look at the marketplace and see where the demand is, and we'll make adjustments accordingly, if that helps you. Our collision program at that time had maybe 60 students or so in it, and we were able to close that down, add 40 more welding booths to that location, add an HVAC program, as well as our 3rd Tesla training center. our collision program at that time had maybe 60 students or so in it and we were able to close that down add 40 more welding booths to that location add an hvac program as well as our 3rd tesla training center I can tell you that we are looking at doing a similar type of operation like that at our Grand Prairie campus, where we were gonna scale back our collision program there to open up more space, frankly, to, to continue to grow our electrical program. i can tell you that we are looking at doing a similar type of operation like that at our grand prairie campus where we were gonna scale back our collision program there to open up more space frankly to to continue to grow our electrical program There are select opportunities out there, and we, we just constantly just kind of look at the marketplace and see where the demand is, and we'll make adjustments accordingly, if that helps you. there are select opportunities out there and we we just constantly just kind of look at the marketplace and see where the demand is and we'll make adjustments accordingly if that helps you

Speaker 5: Yeah, no, super helpful. Makes sense. Thanks for taking the questions, and, and looking forward to that investor day here next month. Yeah, no, super helpful. yeah no super helpful Makes sense. makes sense Thanks for taking the questions, and, and looking forward to that investor day here next month. thanks for taking the questions and and looking forward to that investor day here next month

Speaker 9: Great. Look forward to seeing you there. Great. great Look forward to seeing you there. look forward to seeing you there

Speaker 7: Thank you. The next question is going to come from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street. Your line is open. Thank you. thank you The next question is going to come from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street. the next question is going to come from eric martinuzzi with lake street Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 3: Yeah, I wanted to dive a little deeper on the CapEx spend here in 2027. You mentioned that it was essentially a pull forward of some of the spend that was planned for 2026. Was wondering if that was due to just sort of conservatism on the construction plans that you guys had in place or maybe a more favorable, more responsive regulatory approvals? Yeah, I wanted to dive a little deeper on the CapEx spend here in 2027. yeah i wanted to dive a little deeper on the capex spend here in 2027 You mentioned that it was essentially a pull forward of some of the spend that was planned for 2026. you mentioned that it was essentially a pull forward of some of the spend that was planned for 2026 Was wondering if that was due to just sort of conservatism on the construction plans that you guys had in place or maybe a more favorable, more responsive regulatory approvals? was wondering if that was due to just sort of conservatism on the construction plans that you guys had in place or maybe a more favorable more responsive regulatory approvals

Speaker 9: Yeah, it, it'd be on the, on the former side. I mean, sometimes it, it's tough to, to gauge when certain things are going to get done and when certain permits are, are coming in. You know, the good news is, is that construction is moving along quite well. Yeah, some of the expenses that we were thinking were going to happen this year occurred in 2025. That sets our, frankly, our Hicksville campus up to be in a good position to help contribute to us in, in the fourth quarter of this year. Yeah, it, it'd be on the, on the former side. yeah it it'd be on the on the former side I mean, sometimes it, it's tough to, to gauge when certain things are going to get done and when certain permits are, are coming in. i mean sometimes it it's tough to to gauge when certain things are going to get done and when certain permits are are coming in You know, the good news is, is that construction is moving along quite well. you know the good news is is that construction is moving along quite well Yeah, some of the expenses that we were thinking were going to happen this year occurred in 2025. yeah some of the expenses that we were thinking were going to happen this year occurred in 2025 That sets our, frankly, our Hicksville campus up to be in a good position to help contribute to us in, in the fourth quarter of this year. that sets our frankly our hicksville campus up to be in a good position to help contribute to us in in the fourth quarter of this year

Speaker 3: Okay. You talked about the employer demand being healthy, specifically calling out New Jersey Transit and Johnson Controls. Just curious if you had any other anecdotes from recent conversations with employers as far as incremental demand versus, say, six months ago? Okay. okay You talked about the employer demand being healthy, specifically calling out New Jersey Transit and Johnson Controls. you talked about the employer demand being healthy specifically calling out new jersey transit and johnson controls Just curious if you had any other anecdotes from recent conversations with employers as far as incremental demand versus, say, six months ago? just curious if you had any other anecdotes from recent conversations with employers as far as incremental demand versus say six months ago

Speaker 9: Yeah, no. Well, I would just say kind of across the board, Eric, we, we, our career services people are out there all the time. We've actually also brought on a gentleman to help us build more national relationships. All I can say is that people are seeing more opportunity and not less as we continue to penetrate each market and get deeper into it. So, that really is very encouraging to us because at the end of the day, as you know, our students are coming to us because they want to get a good, solid career. From everything that we're seeing, it's certainly not abating in any which way. Yeah, no. yeah no Well, I would just say kind of across the board, Eric, we, we, our career services people are out there all the time. well i would just say kind of across the board eric we we our career services people are out there all the time We've actually also brought on a gentleman to help us build more national relationships. we've actually also brought on a gentleman to help us build more national relationships All I can say is that people are seeing more opportunity and not less as we continue to penetrate each market and get deeper into it. all i can say is that people are seeing more opportunity and not less as we continue to penetrate each market and get deeper into it So, that really is very encouraging to us because at the end of the day, as you know, our students are coming to us because they want to get a good, solid career. so that really is very encouraging to us because at the end of the day as you know our students are coming to us because they want to get a good solid career From everything that we're seeing, it's certainly not abating in any which way. from everything that we're seeing it's certainly not abating in any which way

Speaker 3: Got it. Thanks for taking my questions. Got it. got it Thanks for taking my questions. thanks for taking my questions

Speaker 9: Sure. Sure. sure

Speaker 7: Thank you. The next question will come from Steven Frankel with Rosenblatt. Your line is open. Thank you. thank you The next question will come from Steven Frankel with Rosenblatt. the next question will come from steven frankel with rosenblatt Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 10: Good morning. Could you start by giving us the metrics for graduation rate and placement rate for 2025? Good morning. good morning Could you start by giving us the metrics for graduation rate and placement rate for 2025? could you start by giving us the metrics for graduation rate and placement rate for 2025

Speaker 9: Sure. Our graduation rate, as we track it, did decline by about 200 basis points to about 67.5%, if I'm not mistaken, and our placement rate increased by about 250 basis points, to 82.8%, if I'm not mistaken. Sure. sure Our graduation rate, as we track it, did decline by about 200 basis points to about 67.5%, if I'm not mistaken, and our placement rate increased by about 250 basis points, to 82.8%, if I'm not mistaken. our graduation rate as we track it did decline by about 200 basis points to about 67.5% if i'm not mistaken and our placement rate increased by about 250 basis points to 82.8% if i'm not mistaken

Speaker 10: Yes. Okay, and then, thanks for all the comments on, high school. Two, two quick questions there. One, in 25, what % of the incoming students came from high school, and where do you think these initiatives will take it? Then you talked about an interesting High School Share program. How many locations is that currently ongoing today? Yes. yes Okay, and then, thanks for all the comments on, high school. okay and then thanks for all the comments on high school Two, two quick questions there. two two quick questions there One, in 25, what % of the incoming students came from high school, and where do you think these initiatives will take it? one in 25 what % of the incoming students came from high school and where do you think these initiatives will take it Then you talked about an interesting High School Share program. then you talked about an interesting high school share program How many locations is that currently ongoing today? how many locations is that currently ongoing today

Speaker 9: Sure, Steven. Again, about 20% of 2025 students basically came right out of high school and came to our schools. Where that's gonna go, I know it's gonna go higher. I don't have specific numbers because we're also going to be increasing our base, but I, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing it, say, in the mid-twenties, depending on how successful we are. But, also as, you know, reflective of how much we continue to grow our adult market, which remains, you know, very robust for us. With regards to the High School Share program, right now, it's I'll say this, we have about, let's say about 150 students in that program, and that's mainly in New Jersey, since we have strong relationships there. Sure, Steven. sure steven Again, about 20% of 2025 students basically came right out of high school and came to our schools. again about 20% of 2025 students basically came right out of high school and came to our schools Where that's gonna go, I know it's gonna go higher. where that's gonna go i know it's gonna go higher I don't have specific numbers because we're also going to be increasing our base, but I, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing it, say, in the mid-twenties, depending on how successful we are. i don't have specific numbers because we're also going to be increasing our base but i i wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing it say in the mid-twenties depending on how successful we are But, also as, you know, reflective of how much we continue to grow our adult market, which remains, you know, very robust for us. but also as you know reflective of how much we continue to grow our adult market which remains you know very robust for us With regards to the High School Share program, right now, it's I'll say this, we have about, let's say about 150 students in that program, and that's mainly in New Jersey, since we have strong relationships there. with regards to the high school share program right now it's i'll say this we have about let's say about 150 students in that program and that's mainly in new jersey since we have strong relationships there However, we did bring on someone to help us grow this, and I can tell you that we literally have interest from dozens and dozens of school districts around the country. As to what will materialize, it's hard to say. These school districts are very difficult to, I'll say, work with, and they're not necessarily quick to work with us. We love the idea because as you probably know or may know, 20% of people in community colleges are in high school. They're doing dual enrollment. We said: Well, why can't we do the same thing with the trades? However, we did bring on someone to help us grow this, and I can tell you that we literally have interest from dozens and dozens of school districts around the country. however we did bring on someone to help us grow this and i can tell you that we literally have interest from dozens and dozens of school districts around the country As to what will materialize, it's hard to say. as to what will materialize it's hard to say These school districts are very difficult to, I'll say, work with, and they're not necessarily quick to work with us. these school districts are very difficult to i'll say work with and they're not necessarily quick to work with us We love the idea because as you probably know or may know, 20% of people in community colleges are in high school. we love the idea because as you probably know or may know 20% of people in community colleges are in high school They're doing dual enrollment. they're doing dual enrollment We said: Well, why can't we do the same thing with the trades? we said well why can't we do the same thing with the trades For the students that we're serving today, if they start with us in I'm sorry, in their junior year, they'll graduate having completed more than 50% of our program, which means if they were to enroll with us, they can continue their education, graduate in half the time with half the debt. It's kind of a win-win situation. It's a wonderful opportunity. It's still in its infancy, but we're certainly going to push it as much as we can because it's, I think it's a win-win for everyone. For the students that we're serving today, if they start with us in I'm sorry, in their junior year, they'll graduate having completed more than 50% of our program, which means if they were to enroll with us, they can continue their education, graduate in half the time with half the debt. for the students that we're serving today if they start with us in i'm sorry in their junior year they'll graduate having completed more than 50% of our program which means if they were to enroll with us they can continue their education graduate in half the time with half the debt It's kind of a win-win situation. it's kind of a win-win situation It's a wonderful opportunity. it's a wonderful opportunity It's still in its infancy, but we're certainly going to push it as much as we can because it's, I think it's a win-win for everyone. it's still in its infancy but we're certainly going to push it as much as we can because it's i think it's a win-win for everyone

Speaker 10: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 9: Yep. Yep. yep

Speaker 7: As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Our next question will come from Griffin Boss with B. Riley Securities. Your line is open. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. as a reminder to ask a question please press * 1 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced Our next question will come from Griffin Boss with B. our next question will come from griffin boss with b Riley Securities. riley securities Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 4: Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my question. Very solid results and guidance, and I appreciate the level of detail you've provided today. Just one for me. I want to jump back to build on what Luke asked earlier regarding the guidance. Can you just kind of dig into how you're thinking about the revenue guide? If you look at the, you know, the low end of the revenue guide implies about 12% year-over-year growth, really, really solid. But then you look at starts, and you got that wide 8%-13% range. Kind of what, what, what are the puts and takes there in terms of, you know, let's say you hit the low end of the revenue guide at $580 million, you got 12% growth and. Hi, good morning. hi good morning Thank you for taking my question. thank you for taking my question Very solid results and guidance, and I appreciate the level of detail you've provided today. very solid results and guidance and i appreciate the level of detail you've provided today Just one for me. just one for me I want to jump back to build on what Luke asked earlier regarding the guidance. i want to jump back to build on what luke asked earlier regarding the guidance Can you just kind of dig into how you're thinking about the revenue guide? can you just kind of dig into how you're thinking about the revenue guide If you look at the, you know, the low end of the revenue guide implies about 12% year-over-year growth, really, really solid. if you look at the you know the low end of the revenue guide implies about 12% year-over-year growth really really solid But then you look at starts, and you got that wide 8%-13% range. but then you look at starts and you got that wide 8%-13% range Kind of what, what, what are the puts and takes there in terms of, you know, let's say you hit the low end of the revenue guide at $580 million, you got 12% growth and. kind of what what what are the puts and takes there in terms of you know let's say you hit the low end of the revenue guide at $580 million you got 12% growth and ... you know, starts are 8% or something. What's the, what, what's accounting for the delta there? I mean, are you anticipating, you know, 3% tuition increase for the year, which, you know, makes up that other, you know, 3%-4% kind of? ... you know, starts are 8% or something. you know starts are 8% or something What's the, what, what's accounting for the delta there? what's the what what's accounting for the delta there I mean, are you anticipating, you know, 3% tuition increase for the year, which, you know, makes up that other, you know, 3%-4% kind of? i mean are you anticipating you know 3% tuition increase for the year which you know makes up that other you know 3%-4% kind of

Speaker 9: Well, as, as we said in the past, we raise our tuition around 1%-3% a year. We definitely wanna stay at that level, not raise it more. If you look at our average revenue, that can fluctuate a little bit more than that, again, somewhat depending on program mix. Overall, I mean, you kind of, yeah, you obviously did the math. You look at the numbers, it there will be... We feel very good about what, we anticipate we'll be able to achieve. We put numbers out there that we think are very achievable for us, and I think as far as the, the starts go, you know, certainly 8%, I'll say this, I'd be very disappointed if we end up at that level. Well, as, as we said in the past, we raise our tuition around 1%-3% a year. well as as we said in the past we raise our tuition around 1%-3% a year We definitely wanna stay at that level, not raise it more. we definitely wanna stay at that level not raise it more If you look at our average revenue, that can fluctuate a little bit more than that, again, somewhat depending on program mix. if you look at our average revenue that can fluctuate a little bit more than that again somewhat depending on program mix Overall, I mean, you kind of, yeah, you obviously did the math. overall i mean you kind of yeah you obviously did the math You look at the numbers, it there will be... you look at the numbers it there will be We feel very good about what, we anticipate we'll be able to achieve. we feel very good about what we anticipate we'll be able to achieve We put numbers out there that we think are very achievable for us, and I think as far as the, the starts go, you know, certainly 8%, I'll say this, I'd be very disappointed if we end up at that level. we put numbers out there that we think are very achievable for us and i think as far as the the starts go you know certainly 8% i'll say this i'd be very disappointed if we end up at that level You know, the world is never fully certain in, as you look to the future, but, you know, certainly given where we are today, it certainly seems like that would be something meaningful would have to change for us to be at that low level. I don't know, Brian, anything else you want to say? You know, the world is never fully certain in, as you look to the future, but, you know, certainly given where we are today, it certainly seems like that would be something meaningful would have to change for us to be at that low level. you know the world is never fully certain in as you look to the future but you know certainly given where we are today it certainly seems like that would be something meaningful would have to change for us to be at that low level I don't know, Brian, anything else you want to say? i don't know brian anything else you want to say

Speaker 2: The only thing I'll add, Griffin, is our- we have a very robust carrying population that we're getting really good benefits from. I think it was like in my remarks, 2,200 more students we're seeing a year. That really sets us up for a very strong 2026. Also, we're, we're also looking at scholarships. Scholarships, when we give us our internal scholarships out, they do start at a higher rate. We might be looking to reduce that a little bit as well, that way we should get a boost from revenue as well. The only thing I'll add, Griffin, is our- we have a very robust carrying population that we're getting really good benefits from. the only thing i'll add griffin is our- we have a very robust carrying population that we're getting really good benefits from I think it was like in my remarks, 2,200 more students we're seeing a year. i think it was like in my remarks 2,200 more students we're seeing a year That really sets us up for a very strong 2026. that really sets us up for a very strong 2026 Also, we're, we're also looking at scholarships. also we're we're also looking at scholarships Scholarships, when we give us our internal scholarships out, they do start at a higher rate. scholarships when we give us our internal scholarships out they do start at a higher rate We might be looking to reduce that a little bit as well, that way we should get a boost from revenue as well. we might be looking to reduce that a little bit as well that way we should get a boost from revenue as well

Speaker 4: Got it. Okay, great color. Thanks, Scott. Thanks, Brian. Again, we're really pleased to see the solid results and looking forward to seeing you both in March. Got it. got it Okay, great color. okay great color Thanks, Scott. thanks scott Thanks, Brian. thanks brian Again, we're really pleased to see the solid results and looking forward to seeing you both in March. again we're really pleased to see the solid results and looking forward to seeing you both in march

Speaker 9: Appreciate it. Appreciate it. appreciate it

Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. yep

Speaker 9: We as well. We as well. we as well

Speaker 7: Thank you. The next question comes from Raj Sharma with Texas Capital. Your line's open. Thank you. thank you The next question comes from Raj Sharma with Texas Capital. the next question comes from raj sharma with texas capital Your line's open. your line's open

Speaker 8: Yeah, thank you, for taking my question. Again, congratulations on a, on a strong beat. Yeah, thank you, for taking my question. yeah thank you for taking my question Again, congratulations on a, on a strong beat. again congratulations on a on a strong beat

Speaker 9: Thanks. Thanks. thanks

Speaker 8: Also, yeah, also really good guidance. Now, my question is, you know, you continue to, to grow your enrollment, succeeding competitors in the space, the, the starts growth. Can you give us any color on how the starts are fairing geographically and, and also across, you know, auto, industrial, or healthcare, sort of- Also, yeah, also really good guidance. also yeah also really good guidance Now, my question is, you know, you continue to, to grow your enrollment, succeeding competitors in the space, the, the starts growth. now my question is you know you continue to to grow your enrollment succeeding competitors in the space the the starts growth Can you give us any color on how the starts are fairing geographically and, and also across, you know, auto, industrial, or healthcare, sort of- can you give us any color on how the starts are fairing geographically and and also across you know auto industrial or healthcare sort of-

Speaker 9: Yep. Yep. yep

Speaker 8: Are you seeing a, are you seeing a consistent growth pattern here, and you expect to see that going on? Are you seeing a, are you seeing a consistent growth pattern here, and you expect to see that going on? are you seeing a are you seeing a consistent growth pattern here and you expect to see that going on

Speaker 9: Yeah, so, good question. Certainly geographically, we, we see opportunity kind of across the map, certainly our map. I can't say there's one area that's consistently better than, than another, so that's good for us. As far as programs go, there certainly is stronger interest, I'll say, in the skilled trades in automotive than for us in the, in the healthcare side of our business. But we're just, you know, I, I don't know, Raj, how to explain it, but all I can say is we've narrowed our focus to really be in about nine different programs. Our goal is to really be the best in each of those programs. Yeah, so, good question. yeah so good question Certainly geographically, we, we see opportunity kind of across the map, certainly our map. certainly geographically we we see opportunity kind of across the map certainly our map I can't say there's one area that's consistently better than, than another, so that's good for us. i can't say there's one area that's consistently better than than another so that's good for us As far as programs go, there certainly is stronger interest, I'll say, in the skilled trades in automotive than for us in the, in the healthcare side of our business. as far as programs go there certainly is stronger interest i'll say in the skilled trades in automotive than for us in the in the healthcare side of our business But we're just, you know, I, I don't know, Raj, how to explain it, but all I can say is we've narrowed our focus to really be in about nine different programs. but we're just you know i i don't know raj how to explain it but all i can say is we've narrowed our focus to really be in about nine different programs Our goal is to really be the best in each of those programs. our goal is to really be the best in each of those programs I think as we continue to concentrate and focus, both from a, an academic standpoint and curriculum development standpoint, it's giving us, I believe, a short term, and I'm hoping even long-term success, and I hope that that's going to also help, frankly, our whole operation. It builds, we believe, stronger relationships and opportunities with the employers. That helps our students. It could help us, as I mentioned, with our WorkforceLinc division. You know, we're trying to be very thoughtful, very concentrated, focused on quality, focused on ensuring students have the skills that they need, and making the learning environment as attractive as possible. I think as we continue to concentrate and focus, both from a, an academic standpoint and curriculum development standpoint, it's giving us, I believe, a short term, and I'm hoping even long-term success, and I hope that that's going to also help, frankly, our whole operation. i think as we continue to concentrate and focus both from a an academic standpoint and curriculum development standpoint it's giving us i believe a short term and i'm hoping even long-term success and i hope that that's going to also help frankly our whole operation It builds, we believe, stronger relationships and opportunities with the employers. it builds we believe stronger relationships and opportunities with the employers That helps our students. that helps our students It could help us, as I mentioned, with our WorkforceLinc division. it could help us as i mentioned with our workforcelinc division You know, we're trying to be very thoughtful, very concentrated, focused on quality, focused on ensuring students have the skills that they need, and making the learning environment as attractive as possible. you know we're trying to be very thoughtful very concentrated focused on quality focused on ensuring students have the skills that they need and making the learning environment as attractive as possible I will tell you, we had good growth in our student recommend rate for telling their friends, "Why don't you come to Lincoln?" That's the best form of advertising we could have, those are things that we're gonna continue to foster because, A, we want to be the best, and B, it helps our business thrive. I will tell you, we had good growth in our student recommend rate for telling their friends, "Why don't you come to Lincoln?" That's the best form of advertising we could have, those are things that we're gonna continue to foster because, A, we want to be the best, and B, it helps our business thrive. i will tell you we had good growth in our student recommend rate for telling their friends "why don't you come to lincoln?" that's the best form of advertising we could have those are things that we're gonna continue to foster because a we want to be the best and b it helps our business thrive

Speaker 8: Yeah. Great. Thank you, thank you for that. Just sort of, bigger picture of the EBITDA growth has been fantastic, and, you know, you're getting about 13% EBITDA margins. Where, where overall, where can you expect those to trend to? Are those being held back, held down, you know, by your nursing healthcare related parameters? Yeah. yeah Great. great Thank you, thank you for that. thank you thank you for that Just sort of, bigger picture of the EBITDA growth has been fantastic, and, you know, you're getting about 13% EBITDA margins. just sort of bigger picture of the ebitda growth has been fantastic and you know you're getting about 13% ebitda margins Where, where overall, where can you expect those to trend to? where where overall where can you expect those to trend to Are those being held back, held down, you know, by your nursing healthcare related parameters? are those being held back held down you know by your nursing healthcare related parameters

Speaker 9: Yep Yep yep

Speaker 8: ... and, and X of that? How do you, how do you see those trending? ... and, and X of that? and and x of that How do you, how do you see those trending? how do you how do you see those trending

Speaker 9: Well, as in our, our guidance and how we see how things operating, I mean, I would anticipate that our EBITDA margins should continue to grow at 150-250 basis points a year as we continue to grow our business. We, we get great operating leverage kind of across the board. We obviously have a lot of fixed costs, but once you have that faculty member, once you have that classroom, and as long as you have additional capacity, driving more people into it is what drives those margins. We still have a lot of room for growth. We're probably about around 60%, you know, capacity utilization. Well, as in our, our guidance and how we see how things operating, I mean, I would anticipate that our EBITDA margins should continue to grow at 150-250 basis points a year as we continue to grow our business. well as in our our guidance and how we see how things operating i mean i would anticipate that our ebitda margins should continue to grow at 150-250 basis points a year as we continue to grow our business We, we get great operating leverage kind of across the board. we we get great operating leverage kind of across the board We obviously have a lot of fixed costs, but once you have that faculty member, once you have that classroom, and as long as you have additional capacity, driving more people into it is what drives those margins. we obviously have a lot of fixed costs but once you have that faculty member once you have that classroom and as long as you have additional capacity driving more people into it is what drives those margins We still have a lot of room for growth. we still have a lot of room for growth We're probably about around 60%, you know, capacity utilization. we're probably about around 60% you know capacity utilization As I've said to people in the past, that doesn't assume that we open up more capacity by doing weekends or other shifts that could add more capacity. I anticipate the margins to continue to grow. I forget, there was maybe another part to your question, but, you know, that's kind of the exciting part about where we see our future. Revenue is strong, operating performance is strong, and we anticipate our business is gonna grow meaningfully at the top line, but even faster at the bottom line. As I've said to people in the past, that doesn't assume that we open up more capacity by doing weekends or other shifts that could add more capacity. as i've said to people in the past that doesn't assume that we open up more capacity by doing weekends or other shifts that could add more capacity I anticipate the margins to continue to grow. i anticipate the margins to continue to grow I forget, there was maybe another part to your question, but, you know, that's kind of the exciting part about where we see our future. i forget there was maybe another part to your question but you know that's kind of the exciting part about where we see our future Revenue is strong, operating performance is strong, and we anticipate our business is gonna grow meaningfully at the top line, but even faster at the bottom line. revenue is strong operating performance is strong and we anticipate our business is gonna grow meaningfully at the top line but even faster at the bottom line

Speaker 8: ... great. Yeah, just lastly, you know, really looking forward to seeing you all at the Nashville campus. Would it be too much to expect Nashville campus performance to match what you guys did at East Point? ... great. great Yeah, just lastly, you know, really looking forward to seeing you all at the Nashville campus. yeah just lastly you know really looking forward to seeing you all at the nashville campus Would it be too much to expect Nashville campus performance to match what you guys did at East Point? would it be too much to expect nashville campus performance to match what you guys did at east point

Speaker 9: Well, I think that the, the difference is this: the East Point campus is truly a local-serving campus, so it's all adults and high school students from that geography. Our Nashville campus is our most unique campus in that it is, it is certainly serving the local market, but it will also serve a much larger universe. It enrolls students from, I believe, it's 9 or 11 neighboring states. That campus is much more focused on the high school market, and that is one of the areas that we're gonna be really growing our high school market. Well, I think that the, the difference is this: the East Point campus is truly a local-serving campus, so it's all adults and high school students from that geography. well i think that the the difference is this the east point campus is truly a local-serving campus so it's all adults and high school students from that geography Our Nashville campus is our most unique campus in that it is, it is certainly serving the local market, but it will also serve a much larger universe. I t enrolls students from, I believe, it's 9 or 11 neighboring states. our nashville campus is our most unique campus in that it is it is certainly serving the local market but it will also serve a much larger universe. i t enrolls students from i believe it's 9 or 11 neighboring states That campus is much more focused on the high school market, and that is one of the areas that we're gonna be really growing our high school market. that campus is much more focused on the high school market and that is one of the areas that we're gonna be really growing our high school market I anticipate that the Nashville campus can become, certainly as, as profitable as the East Point campus, but the pace at which that happens will be a little bit different because as we've mentioned, with the high school program, you do a lot of work, you grow it in the summer, you do a lot of work, and then you grow it again in the next summer, versus the East Point, every month, as we enroll new students, we're able to constantly build that population base. I hope that helps you there. I anticipate that the Nashville campus can become, certainly as, as profitable as the East Point campus, but the pace at which that happens will be a little bit different because as we've mentioned, with the high school program, you do a lot of work, you grow it in the summer, you do a lot of work, and then you grow it again in the next summer, versus the East Point, every month, as we enroll new students, we're able to constantly build that population base. i anticipate that the nashville campus can become certainly as as profitable as the east point campus but the pace at which that happens will be a little bit different because as we've mentioned with the high school program you do a lot of work you grow it in the summer you do a lot of work and then you grow it again in the next summer versus the east point every month as we enroll new students we're able to constantly build that population base I hope that helps you there. i hope that helps you there

Speaker 8: Yeah, great. thank you. I'll end it there. Again, congratulations on fantastic results. Yeah, great. thank you. yeah great thank you I'll end it there. i'll end it there Again, congratulations on fantastic results. again congratulations on fantastic results

Speaker 9: Thanks, Raj. Thanks, Raj. thanks raj

Speaker 8: See you guys. See you next month. See you guys. see you guys See you next month. see you next month

Speaker 9: Thanks, Raj. Yep. Thanks. Thanks, Raj. thanks raj Yep. yep Thanks. thanks

Speaker 7: Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Scott Shaw for closing remarks. Thank you. thank you I am showing no further questions at this time. i am showing no further questions at this time I would now like to turn the call back over to Scott Shaw for closing remarks. i would now like to turn the call back over to scott shaw for closing remarks

Speaker 9: Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us today as we reviewed our continued progress and set forth financial guidance for 2026. Lincoln is benefiting from both macro-operating environment trends, changes in public policy, and our own consistent execution of growth initiatives at our existing campuses and new facilities. Our investments in our operations, our students, and our organization creates numerous opportunities to generate increasing levels of shareholder returns over several years. Our success is only made possible by the commitment and dedication of our faculty and staff, and the success of our students. I'd like to thank our shareholders for their support and our entire team for their dedication to achieving our goals. I hope to see our analysts and investors at our Investor Day on March 19th. Thank you all again and have a great day. Thank you, operator, and thank you all for joining us today as we reviewed our continued progress and set forth financial guidance for 2026. thank you operator and thank you all for joining us today as we reviewed our continued progress and set forth financial guidance for 2026 Lincoln is benefiting from both macro-operating environment trends, changes in public policy, and our own consistent execution of growth initiatives at our existing campuses and new facilities. lincoln is benefiting from both macro-operating environment trends changes in public policy and our own consistent execution of growth initiatives at our existing campuses and new facilities Our investments in our operations, our students, and our organization creates numerous opportunities to generate increasing levels of shareholder returns over several years. our investments in our operations our students and our organization creates numerous opportunities to generate increasing levels of shareholder returns over several years Our success is only made possible by the commitment and dedication of our faculty and staff, and the success of our students. our success is only made possible by the commitment and dedication of our faculty and staff and the success of our students I'd like to thank our shareholders for their support and our entire team for their dedication to achieving our goals. i'd like to thank our shareholders for their support and our entire team for their dedication to achieving our goals I hope to see our analysts and investors at our Investor Day on March 19th. i hope to see our analysts and investors at our investor day on march 19th Thank you all again and have a great day. thank you all again and have a great day

Speaker 7: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. This concludes today's conference call. this concludes today's conference call Thank you for participating. thank you for participating You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect