Corinthian Colleges Inc. Stock Downgraded (COCO)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Corinthian Colleges (Nasdaq:COCO) has been downgraded by TheStreet Ratings from hold to sell. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its unimpressive growth in net income, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Diversified Consumer Services industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 292.8% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $3.37 million to -$6.49 million.
• COCO has underperformed the S&P 500 Index, declining 10.14% from its price level of one year ago. The fact that the stock is now selling for less than others in its industry in relation to its current earnings is not reason enough to justify a buy rating at this time.
• Net operating cash flow has decreased to -$42.92 million or 11.37% when compared to the same quarter last year. Despite a decrease in cash flow of 11.37%, CORINTHIAN COLLEGES INC is in line with the industry average cash flow growth rate of -21.10%.
• The company's current return on equity greatly increased when compared to its ROE from the same quarter one year prior. This is a signal of significant strength within the corporation. Compared to other companies in the Diversified Consumer Services industry and the overall market, CORINTHIAN COLLEGES INC's return on equity significantly trails that of both the industry average and the S&P 500.
• Regardless of the drop in revenue, the company managed to outperform against the industry average of 4.7%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues slightly dropped by 3.3%. The declining revenue has not hurt the company's bottom line, with increasing earnings per share.

Corinthian Colleges, Inc. operates as a post-secondary education company in the United States and Canada. It offers various diploma programs; and associate's, bachelor's; and master's degrees. The company has a P/E ratio of 10.9, below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Corinthian Colleges has a market cap of $177.8 million and is part of the services sector and diversified services industry. Shares are down 4.1% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full Corinthian Colleges Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

-- Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff

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