Laureate Education (NASDAQ:LAUR) reported first-quarter financial results on Thursday. The transcript from the company’s first-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Summary
Laureate Education reported a strong start to 2026, with new enrollment growth of 13% in Peru and 4% in Mexico, aligning with their expectations.
The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance for enrollments, revenue, and adjusted EBITDA, and increased its guidance for adjusted earnings per share due to $105 million in share buybacks.
Mexico’s economic outlook is expected to improve in the second half of 2026, whereas Peru benefits from strong domestic demand and a business-friendly environment.
The first quarter revenue was $273 million with an adjusted EBITDA of negative $2 million, both ahead of guidance due to favorable FX rates and timing of expenses.
Laureate Education maintains a strong balance sheet with a net debt position of $60 million, and plans to continue returning excess capital to shareholders.
Full Transcript
Operator
Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q1 2026 Laureate Education Inc. 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’ll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised to withdraw your question. Please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today’s conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Adam Morse, Senior Vice President of Finance. Please go ahead.
Adam Morse (Senior Vice President of Finance)
Good morning and thank you for joining us on today’s call to discuss Laureate Education’s first quarter 2026 results. Joining me on the call today are Iliff Sirkansen, President and Chief Executive Officer and Rick Buzkirk, Chief Financial Officer. Our earnings press release is available on the Investor Relations SECtion of our websitelaureate.net. we have also posted a supplementary presentation to the website which we will be referring to during today’s call. The call is being webcast and a complete recording will be available after the call. I would like to remind you that some of the information we are providing today, including but not limited to our financial and operational guidance, constitutes forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable US SECurities laws. Forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may change at any time and therefore our actual results may differ materially from those we expected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations are disclosed in our Annual report on Form 10K filed with the U.S. SECurities and Exchange Commission, our 10Q filed earlier this morning, as well as other filings made with the SEC. In addition, all forward looking statements are based on current expectations as of the date of this conference call and we undertake no obligation to update any forward looking statements. Additionally, non GAAP measures that we discuss including and among others adjusted EBITDA and its related margin, adjusted net income, adjusted earnings per share, total debt, net of cash and cash equivalents and free cash flow are also detailed and reconciled to their GAAP counterparts in our press release or supplementary presentation. Let me now turn the call over to Iliff.
Iliff Sirkansen (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you Adam and Good morning everyone. 2026 is off to a good start and we are encouraged by the results from our recently completed enrollment intake cycles which included Peru’s primary intake and a smaller secondary intake for Mexico. Enrollment results came in line with our expectations for both markets with year over year new enrollment growth of 13% in Peru and 4% in Mexico through completion of the intake cycles by the middle of April. With the intake snow finalized, we have good visibility into the remainder of the year and we are reaffirming our full year guidance for enrollments, revenue and adjusted EBITDA. We are increasing our guidance for adjusted earnings per share to reflect the $105 million in share buybacks completed during the first quarter, and we anticipate further share buybacks through the remainder of 2026 as return of excess capital remains a priority for the company. The enrollment intake results for the first cycle were in line with the macroeconomic trends we discussed during our last call for both Mexico and Peru. In addition, Peru is benefiting from continued strong penetration for our online offerings for working adult students. As a reminder, our business model is loosely correlated with economic cycles in periods of robust GDP growth, such as the current environment in Peru. We have historically benefited from strong enrollment momentum during a softer macroeconomic backdrop, as we are currently experiencing in Mexico. Our growth tends to moderate a bit, but we are still doing well as families continue to prioritize spending on higher education. Due to this strong value proposition in Mexico, GDP growth for 2026 is expected to remain relatively modest, albeit slightly better than 2025. President Scheinbron’s pragmatic leadership has helped preserve stability in the US Mexico relationship, providing for a constructive backdrop for the upcoming USMCA trade negotiations. Many economists are projecting an increase in economic activity for Mexico starting in the second half of 2026, setting the stage for more robust GDP growth in 2027. In Peru, the economy continues to perform solidly, bolstered by robust domestic demand, new mining projects and strong commodity prices. The Peruvians just elected a new Congress which reaffirmed a business friendly centre right majority and their presidential run of election is set for June. Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, Peru has historically demonstrated economic strength and stability underpinned by strong underlying governmental institutions, a representative Congress, an independent central bank and a history of strong fiscal discipline. The foundation of our strong track record of performance is our mission, a mission to deliver affordable, high quality education to prepare students for successful career and lifelong achievement or while building pride, trust and respect within the communities we serve. We remain committed to transparency and accountability, measuring the outcomes that matter most and continuously improving how we track and report these results to all of our stakeholders. Earlier this month we published our 2025 impact report. I encourage you to visit our website and download a copy to learn more about the impact of the outstanding work of our students, faculty and institutions are currently doing in their communities throughout Mexico and Peru. Let me briefly highlight some of the most important measurable outcomes we delivered. Half of our newly enrolled students are first generation university attendees for whom a degree leads to their first professional role and a long term economic upward mobility for their families. 9 out of 10 of our job seeking graduates secure employment within 12 months of graduation, underscoring the relevance of our programs, strong alignment with industry needs and the expertise and commitment of our faculty and staff to prepare students for successful careers. And graduates of laureate universities in on campus programs recover the nominal cost of their education in approximately three years through increased earnings compared to high school graduates of the same age, and the payback period is even shorter for working adults in our fully online programs. These measurable outcomes align perfectly with our mission which is focused on quality, affordability and lifelong achievement. This concludes my prepared remarks and I will now turn the call over to Rick Boskirk for a more detailed financial overview of our first quarter performance as well as further details on our 2026 full year outlook.
Rick Boskirk (Chief Financial Officer)
Rick thank you Iliff. Before I discuss our financial performance for the quarter, let me provide a few important reminders on seasonality. First, campus based higher education is a seasonal business. The first and third quarters represent our two largest intake periods, which traditionally …
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