Why Stride Stock Soared Today

Shares of Stride (NYSE: LRN) leaped on Wednesday after the tech-powered education provider announced earnings that handily exceeded Wall Street's projections.

By the close of trading, Stride's stock price was up more than 14%.

Image source: Getty Images.

Swelling enrollments

Stride's revenue rose 7.5% year over year to $631.3 million in its fiscal 2026 second quarter, which ended on Dec. 31.

Total enrollments were up 7.8% to 248,500, driven by a 17.6% surge in career learning enrollments to 111,500.

"Families continue to seek alternatives to the traditional model of education to address their specific needs," CEO James Rhyu said during a conference call with analysts.

Moreover, revenue per enrollment inched up 1.8% to $2,437.

"We are generally seeing a positive state funding environment," chief financial officer Donna Blackman said.

Rising profits

Better still, Stride is growing more profitable as it scales its operations. The virtual education leader's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) surged 17.2% to $188.1 million.

All told, Stride's adjusted earnings per share increased 5.5% to $2.50. That bested consensus estimates, which had called for per-share profits of $2.01.

A stable growth forecast

For the full year, management expects Stride to generate revenue of $2.480 billion to $2.555 billion in fiscal 2026, with adjusted operating income of $485 million to $505 million. That would represent year-over-year growth of roughly 5% and 6%, respectively.

Joe Tenebruso has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Stride. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.