ITT Educational Services Inc. Message Board

reinv,

I tool a quick look at SB (Safe Bulkers) as you suggested. I will look at MSN later. Regrading SB, I find it a difficult situation to assess. The problems I have with figuring this one out are 1) the company is based in Greece, 2) management is all Greek, 3) the company pays no taxes, 4) predicting dry bulk cargo rates are tough and I have ZERO visibility into what the rates are doing and why (with gold re NEM, I at least see the pricing of gold and make some judgments), 5) the company's earnings track record is terrible (down earnings every year for 6 straight years), 6) the company has a large amount of debt ($466 million), 7) shares do not trade at all (the trading volume is tiny) and 8) how to value this company is a mystery to me (value it on a price per ship basis, or a p/e basis, or by cash flow?).

On the other hand, SB did generate over $2 in eps in each of 2008 and 2009. If this company could show some aptitude towards getting back to that type of eps number, the shares will go much higher in my opinion. The dividend yield looks good, but with earnings falling, I am wondering how safe the dividend is. The dividend is not large compared to the operating cash flow, but SB also spends a ton of money each year on capital expenditures (+$100 million). I think that I am leaving this one alone.

Regarding shipping, I am more interested in the market for shipping refrigerated and semi-refrigerated natural gas from the United States to Europe. Gas in Europe is very expensive and it is cheap here. But shipping it is very difficult. There is a ton of money to be made by any company with expertise in operating a fleet of these types of ships. The only public company I know that does this is Navigator Holdings (NVGIF). Shares hardly ever trade, but I am expecting a public offering soon as the company builds out its fleet. This is going to be a hot area. Billionaire Wilbur Ross recently took a large stake in the company.

less, unfortunately you never bothered posting that you were long ESI as far as I can tell or have seen, so post whatever you would like regarding your gains or losses. It is of no consequence to anyone on the board. If you made a bunch of money on your ESI long, good for you. I have no clue why you would ever post detailed info on your "sale" and "profits" but not post anything about your entry position. Next time, post your entry like I did when I went long at $11.80.

mizz, you deserve to lose all your money. you posted garbage on this message board about ESI and trash talked the company without any reasonable basis. As such, you attempted to destroy value in my long position and those of other investors. Your objectives were to cause me financial harm. If your posts had been fair and objective, I would have a different opinion towards your loss. I completely respect an honest opinion based on sound analysis that may differ from mine. I am open and accept that type of exchange. But in your case, your posts were pathetic, misleading and manipulative. I attempted to set you straight, but you would not listen to reason. You attempt to make me lose money was met with your own demise and I could not be happier for your loss. This may sound harsh to some, but I see no need for sympathy in this case.

mizz,

you are making yourself look like a total buffoon. Go post your trash elsewhere. Well, I guess if some hedge fund who is short ESI is paying you to post your junk here, at least you are get paid something for your efforts.

cent,

where are you hearing these "rumors" that graduating classes are being hired even before graduation? Can you provide any info where you are hearing this?

Thanks.

I am amazed that the shorts simply never bother to cover ANY shares at all. None! They must have started to believe their own #$%$ on ESI. They have pounded on it so relentlessly that they got every analyst to downgrade the shares in the past couple of years. They must have thought that the business would never get better. Now they are in a really tough spot. Everyone is watching the short interest and they are seeing that no one has covered. That means the short squeeze pros are going to continue to look to put pressure on the short sellers. I think that the short sellers just got too spoiled (like brats) with the ESI positions. They manipulated the stock rice and the news flow on ESI. They probably thought that they were kings of the universe when it came to ESI. Now things are going the other way. It will be interesting. It will be interesting to see what the shorts will do. I suspect that the shorts will probably attempt to put out some derogatory news regarding ESI in an attempt to keep the stock from going up a ton more, but we will see.

Yesterday's end of day price action and today's up move is a clear sign. Short sellers attempted to manipulate the ESI price downward in a sharp end of day drop yesterday. They are desperate to cover. I was a bit confused by the decline. There was no reason for it. So what is going on today? Another massive increase in stock price (+$3) on a mere 580,000 shares. That shows everyone what is really going on here. Well, that 580,000 shares traded today so far is probably triple counted (one part buyer, one part seller , one part middleman). So ESI trades less than 200,000 real shares and the stock goes up $3. And of that 200,000 in real shares, how much of that is short covering? Only part of it. And there are 8 million more shares to be covered! Yowza.

supr, I believe that on AAPL one has to be "in early" on an investment several months before the new product onslaught comes in 2013. The new products will start coming out for the back to school and then Christmas season. That means August, Sept, Oct are critical product introduction months. If they choose to get involved on the long side, investors should be invested no later than late June. One never knows when the buzz will start. I chose to buy yesterday because for me $421 was just too good a price and more than compensated me for buying just a tad earlier than I normally would.

If AAPL dips into the $420's, buy and hold!

follow-on from my prior post...

9. AAPL's valuation is so ridiculously low. It trades below the valuation of not only every technology company, but almost every company in the market.

10. Stock buyback will provide awesome support for the shares. $50 billion to be bought. That is a ton of stock.

11. Great dividend. 3% something.

12. AAPL sells product systems - integrated products: laptops, destops, iPods, iPhones, iPads, etc - that work together wonderfully and are masterfully designed. Samsung sells a smart phone (with someone else's operating system) and they sell some stand alone flat screen tv's.

I bought a pile of AAPL shares today at a stunning price of $421. I could not believe that the market gave me this opportunity. Shares dropped 10% in two days for some baloney reasons (David Tepper's idiotic comments and some moronic analyst saying that AAPL shares were going to $240. With AAPL shares now at $437, I am already up $17, or over 4%. Not selling these shares either. See you well north of $600 when AAPL starts rolling out its back-to-school and Christmas new products!!!!!

supr,

I have not posted recently as there has been no significant news other than the following...

1. ESI beats its earnings estimates. So what. When does ESI ever not beat the estimates. I think in the last 10 years, they have missed only one quarter. And when they beat the estimates, they beat by a good margin.

2. ESI enrollment figures are stabilizing and should get better. This is the killer for the shorts and the fuel for the longs. New student enrollments means more revenues. More revenues, combined with $50 million in cost reductions, means earnings should be better than expected (as always).

3. Obama submitted student loan forgiveness bill for those that pay their loans for 10 consecutive years. This is brilliant. Provides a strong incentive for students to stay current on their loans. This program is in effect another strong incentive for student education.

4. Recent insider trading cases and investigations into politicians leaking to Wall Street/hedge funds information about the recent medicare law changes before they were made public has Washington DC politico running scared. They have all been trading on inside information for decades and now this insidious and deceitful practice is over. The education stocks have suffered mightily from insider trading with the politicians and the Department of Education staff being the ringleaders. These parasites fed the hedge funds information regarding the education regs and were even so brazen to have Eisman of Frontpoint Partners (a Morgan Stanley hedge fund) speak at a congressional hearing on the education sector. Eisman was short the education stocks and had the politicians in his back pocket (probably through kickbacks and political donations). Eisman firm was indicted for one of the worst and most blatant cases of insider trading and was shut down by the SEC and Morgan Stanley. Eisman was terminated but avoided jail time somehow. Some of Esiman's associates went to jail.

never seen you on this chat board before. you were not here at $12. so i suspect that you are full of crap. Nonetheless, I am long at $11.80 and posted here to that effect back when shares were at that price. ESI shares are grossly undervalued and going alot higher.

You are totally incorrect. No shares of ESI have been covered. The short interest in ESI remains massive and can not be covered. Shorts are trapped. of 23 million shares outstanding, 17 million are held by long term holders who are not selling.

The shorts need to cover over 8 million shares and everyone knows it. Who knows, maybe the politicians are now going long the education stocks because they realize that the game is changed, because they no longer have a winning hand on the short side, and because the short sellers were idiots not to cover (as they started to believe their own #$%$ that the politicians were going to drive every company to zero). There has been no company that has fared worse than ESI, but then there is no company that has performed so well over the past decade. ESI's record of achievement is unmatched in the industry. ESI has repurchased huge quantities of stock, holds massive real estate ($400 million), have no debt, has cleaned up the private student loan obligations, always beat the earnings estimates, are consistently profitable, and operate everywhere. The size of the ESI short position is staggering, the largest on a percentage basis on the NYSE by a huge margin. Trading volume in the shares is tiny and covering +8 million is not going to be easy. Sharks are in the water and the short sellers know it. Also, look at that huge new holder of ESI shares that just bought a massive 2.3 million shares (yep, 2.3 MILLION!!!), or 10% of the company in the fast few months. Clifton Park Capital Management LLC was the buyer and are now the third largest shareholder. Guess where Clifton Park Capital is based? Any guesses? Wilmington, Delaware - a stone's throw from Washington, DC. That tells you something right there!!!! Clifton Park has got the inside skinny and the shorts are toast. ESI to earn well north of $4 per share and next year could be a huge jump based on reduced costs, improved enrollments, and higher revenues and margins. Who knows where ESI shares could trade.? $40 is a no brainer. Question is $60-$70 in the cards for 2013? I am already up 70% and I am no where near thinking about selling.