Covista Accelerated Revenue Growth as Walden Enrollment Climbed
Fiscal-2026 adjusted earnings reached $8.25 a share, topping Covista’s raised ceiling by 10 cents.
Covista (CVSA), the education provider, reported that fourth-quarter revenue rose 9.7% to $501.4 million as adjusted earnings increased 25.9% to $2.09 a share.
Revenue growth accelerated from 4.5% in the third quarter, while enrollment growth quickened to 8.4% from 6.8%. Revenue increased sequentially from $487.0 million, though the reported student count declined to 99,472 from 100,585.
Adjusted EBITDA rose 15.2% from a year earlier to $126.9 million after remaining essentially flat in the prior quarter. Its margin expanded 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier to 25.3%, reversing the third quarter’s year-over-year contraction, while GAAP operating margin widened to 19.0% from 16.8%.
Walden remained Covista’s main growth driver. Revenue rose 15.7% to $210.8 million as enrollment climbed 14.0% to a record 54,851, helping lift adjusted operating income 34.3% and expand the segment’s adjusted operating margin 4.1 points to 29.8%.
Chamberlain returned to growth, with revenue up 3.2% to $190.2 million and enrollment up 1.6%, though its adjusted operating margin slipped 0.3 point to 19.1%. Medical and Veterinary revenue rose 10.7% to $100.3 million, accompanied by a 7.3% enrollment increase and 12.3% adjusted EBITDA growth.
For fiscal 2027, Covista expects revenue of $2.05 billion to $2.09 billion, representing growth of 5% to 7%, and adjusted earnings of $8.90 to $9.15 a share, up 8% to 11%. Those ranges point to slower growth than fiscal 2026 and begin below the low ends of the company’s fiscal-2027-through-2029 targets.
Walden’s recently launched programs had enrolled more than 1,700 students by quarter-end, while 12 artificial-intelligence credentials had attracted more than 9,000 learners. Trailing-12-month free cash flow rebounded to $393.1 million, and net leverage fell to 0.5 times after Covista repurchased $238 million of shares and repaid $50 million of term debt during the fiscal year.