What Happened?
Shares of vocational education company Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE) fell 9.5% in the afternoon session after the company reported mixed fourth-quarter 2025 results, as a significant miss on a key profitability metric overshadowed a revenue beat and raised profit guidance for the full year. The vocational education company's revenue grew 12.4% year-over-year to $503.4 million, ahead of Wall Street's expectations. Similarly, its adjusted earnings per share of $2.43 beat consensus estimates. However, investors appeared to focus on the company's adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization), which came in at $87.91 million, missing analyst forecasts by a wide margin of 36.5%. While Adtalem also raised its full-year adjusted EPS guidance, the substantial EBITDA miss signaled underlying profitability concerns that appeared to weigh more heavily on investor sentiment.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Adtalem’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 12 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 24 days ago when the stock gained 6.8% on the news that investors wagered geopolitical tension would be contained following the U.S. military's operation in Venezuela, with the Dow hitting a fresh record. Sentiment remained firmly "risk-on" for early 2026, with Wall Street prioritizing domestic economic strength over foreign turbulence. Analysts noted that while the event raises short-term supply questions, the market largely viewed the potential stabilization of Venezuela's vast oil reserves as a long-term economic positive.
Adtalem is up 1.5% since the beginning of the year, but at $106.08 per share, it is still trading 31.3% below its 52-week high of $154.45 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Adtalem’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,749.
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