Universal Technical Institute Reports Fiscal Year 2026 First Quarter Results

Company's strong performance and execution support growth targets for 2026 and beyond

PHOENIX, Feb. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI), a leading workforce solutions provider of transportation, skilled trades and healthcare education programs, reported financial results for the fiscal 2026 first quarter ended December 31, 2025. Universal Technical Institute, Inc. operates in two reportable segments, Universal Technical Institute (UTI) and Concorde Career Colleges (Concorde), and together with its segments and subsidiaries is referred to as the "Company," "we," "us" or "our."

Financial Highlights

• Revenue of $220.8 million, an increase of 9.6% over the comparable period.
• Net income of $12.8 million, a decrease of $9.3 million over the comparable period due to strategic growth expenses.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ of $27.1 million, a decrease of 23.5% over the comparable period due to $7.6 million in strategic growth expenses.

Operational Highlights and North Star Strategy Developments

• Average full-time active students of 26,858, an increase of 7.2% versus the comparable period, with total new student starts of 5,449, an increase of 2.6% over the comparable period.
• Four new planned campus locations across both divisions have been announced; timing of openings will depend upon appropriate regulatory approvals.

"We entered the year on strong operational and financial footing, and the first quarter tracked in line with our plans and exceeded our expectations for disciplined execution on our North Star strategy," said Jerome Grant, CEO of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. "Through new and optimized campuses as well as program expansions we are scaling a durable, repeatable operating model. The performance of Austin and Miramar, the rapid demand at Fort Myers, and the strong early momentum in San Antonio and Atlanta validate our site selection, program mix, and execution playbook, while maintaining the student and employer outcomes that define our brand.

"At the same time, we are already building the foundation for future growth. Through deeper engagement with policymakers, employer partnerships, and collaborations such as our Heartland Dental co-branded campus, we are creating new, innovative pathways to help address the skilled labor gap and strengthen our position as America's leading workforce solutions provider."

Financial Results for the Three-Month Period Ended December 31, 2025 Compared to December 31, 2024

• Revenues increased 9.6% to $220.8 million compared to $201.4 million.
• Operating expenses increased 17.9% to $205.2 million, compared to $174.0 million primarily due to the growth in both UTI and Concorde average full-time active students and strategic growth expenses associated with new campus launches and program expansions currently underway or completed over the last year.
• Operating income decreased to $15.7 million compared to $27.5 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses.
• Net income decreased to $12.8 million compared to $22.2 million primarily due to strategic growth expenses.
• Basic and diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $0.24 and $0.23, respectively, compared to $0.41 and $0.40, respectively.
• Adjusted EBITDA⁽¹⁾ decreased 23.5% to $27.1 million compared to $35.5 million due to $7.6 million in strategic growth investments.
• Average full-time active students increased 7.2%, with total new student starts of 5,449 compared to 5,313.

"We are off to a strong start of fiscal 2026, delivering on our commitments across revenue, average full-time active students, and adjusted EBITDA," said Bruce Schuman, CFO of Universal Technical Institute, Inc. "Our first quarter results reflect the critical advancements for our North Star strategy and continued demand for our programs as well as the scalability of our model and our ability to balance near-term results with strategic reinvestments for future growth.

"Based on our first quarter performance, we are reiterating our fiscal 2026 guidance and remain confident in our full-year outlook. We continue to expect revenue between $905 million and $915 million, baseline adjusted EBITDA of approximately $156 million, and reported adjusted EBITDA of $114 million to $119 million, inclusive of approximately $40 million of growth investments. We also continue to expect total new student starts between 31,500 and 33,000. Our financial position provides the flexibility to fund this growth without compromise, resulting in sustainable enrollment growth and operating leverage, positioning the company for long-term shareholder value in the years ahead."

Balance Sheet and Liquidity

At December 31, 2025, total available liquidity was $233.2 million consisting of $93.6 million of cash and cash equivalents, $69.2 million of short-term investments, and $70.4 million available from the revolving credit facility. Total debt at December 31, 2025 was $101.4 million, including $35.0 million drawn on the revolving credit facility. As of December 31, 2025, the Company incurred $22.2 million of cash capital expenditures ("capex") driven primarily by investments in new campus and program expansions for both UTI and Concorde, along with spending associated with curriculum and equipment refresh and upgrades, facility and leasehold improvements, and IT investments.

Conference Call

Management will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results for the fiscal 2026 first quarter ended December 31, 2025, on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, at 4:30 p.m. ET.

To participate in the live call, investors are invited to dial (844) 881-0138 (domestic) or (412) 317-6790 (international). A live webcast of the call will be available via the Universal Technical Institute, Inc. investor relations website at https://investor.uti.edu. Please go to the website at least 10 minutes early to register, download and install any necessary audio software. The conference call webcast will be archived for fourteen days at https://investor.uti.edu. Alternatively, the telephone replay can be accessed through February 18, 2026, by dialing (855) 669-9658 (domestic) or (412) 317-0088 (international) and entering passcode 8662649.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

In addition to disclosing financial results that are determined in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), the Company also discloses certain non-GAAP financial information in this press release and may similarly disclose non-GAAP financial information on the related conference call. These financial measures are not recognized measures under GAAP and are not intended to be and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. The Company discloses these non-GAAP financial measures because it believes that they provide investors an additional analytical tool to clarify its results of operations and identify underlying trends. Additionally, the Company believes that these measures may also help investors compare its performance on a consistent basis across time periods. Additional details on our non-GAAP measures and the tables reconciling these measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure are provided below.

Adjusted EBITDA: The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, adjusted for stock-based compensation expense and items not considered normal recurring operations. 

Adjusted Free Cash Flow: The Company defines adjusted free cash flow as net cash provided by (used in) operating activities less capital expenditures, adjusted for items not considered normal recurring operations.

Management utilizes adjusted figures as performance measures internally for operating decisions, strategic planning, annual budgeting and forecasting. For the periods presented, our adjustments for items that management does not consider to be normal recurring operations include:

• Integration-related costs for completed acquisitions: We have excluded integration costs related to business structure realignment and new programs for recent acquisitions to allow for comparable financial results to historical operations and forward-looking guidance. In addition, the nature and amount of such charges vary significantly based on the size and timing of the programs. By excluding the referenced expenses from our non-GAAP financial measures, our management is able to further evaluate our ability to utilize existing assets and estimate their long-term value. Furthermore, our management believes that the adjustment of these items supplements the GAAP information with a measure that can be used to assess the sustainability of our operating performance.
• Restructuring costs: In December 2023, we announced plans to consolidate the two Houston, Texas campus locations to align the curriculum, student facing systems, and support services to better serve students seeking careers in in-demand fields. As part of the transition, the MIAT Houston campus, acquired in November 2021, began a phased teach-out in May 2024, and such campus began operating under the UTI brand. Both facilities will remain in use post-consolidation.

To obtain a complete understanding of our performance, these measures should be examined in connection with net income (loss) and net cash provided by (used in) operating activities, determined in accordance with GAAP, as presented in the financial statements and notes thereto included in the annual and quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").  Because the items excluded from these non-GAAP measures are significant components in understanding and assessing our financial performance under GAAP, these measures should not be considered to be an alternative to net income (loss) or net cash provided by (used in) operating activities as a measure of our operating performance or liquidity.  Exclusion of items in the non-GAAP presentation should not be construed as an inference that these items are unusual, infrequent or non-recurring. Other companies, including other companies in the education industry, may define and calculate non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting their usefulness as a comparative measure across similarly titled performance measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is provided below and investors are encouraged to review the reconciliations.

Forward Looking Statements

All statements contained in this press release and the related conference call, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the safe harbor from civil liability provided for such statements by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (set forth in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). These forward-looking statements which address our expected future business and financial performance, may contain words such as "goal," "target," "future," "estimate," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "project," "may," "should," "will," the negative form of these expressions or similar expressions. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements regarding (1) the Company's expectation that it will meet its fiscal year 2026 guidance for new student start growth, revenue growth, net income, diluted earnings per share, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow; (2) the Company's expectation that it will continue to expand its value proposition and build a business that can grow in double digits with potential upside, regardless of the economic environment; and (3) the Company's expectation that it will succeed in new program launches next year. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on the Company's current beliefs, expectations and assumptions regarding the future of its business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the economy and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could affect our actual results include, among other things, failure of our schools to comply with the extensive regulatory requirements for school operations; shifts in higher education laws, regulation and policy at the federal and state levels; our failure to maintain eligibility for or our ability to process federal student financial assistance funds; the effect of current and future Title IV Program regulations arising out of negotiated rulemakings, including any potential reductions in funding or restrictions on the use of funds received through Title IV Programs; the effect of future legislative or regulatory initiatives related to veterans' benefit programs; continued Congressional examination of the for-profit education sector; regulatory investigations of, or actions commenced against, us or other companies in our industry; our failure to execute on our growth and diversification strategy, including effectively identifying, establishing and operating additional schools, programs or campuses; our failure to realize the expected benefits of our acquisitions, or our failure to successfully integrate our acquisitions.; our failure to improve underutilized capacity at certain of our campuses; enrollment declines or challenges in our students' ability to find employment as a result of macroeconomic conditions; our failure to maintain and expand existing industry relationships and develop new industry relationships; our ability to update and expand the content of existing programs and develop and integrate new programs in a timely and cost-effective manner while maintaining positive student outcomes; a loss of our senior management or other key employees; failure to comply with the restrictive covenants and our ability to pay the amounts when due under the credit agreement; the effect of our principal stockholder owning a significant percentage of our capital stock, and thus being able to influence certain corporate matters and the potential in the future to gain substantial control over our company; the effect of public health pandemics, epidemics or outbreak, including COVID-19, and other risks that are described from time to time in our public filings. Further information on these and other potential factors that could affect the financial results or condition may be found in the company's filings with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements made by us in this press release and the related conference call are based only on information currently available to us and speak only as of the date on which it is made. We expressly disclaim any obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, changes in expectations, any changes in events, conditions or circumstances, or otherwise.

Social Media Disclosure

Universal Technical Institute, Inc uses its websites (https://www.uti.edu/, https://concorde.edu, and https://investor.uti.edu/) and LinkedIn pages (https://www.linkedin.com/school/universal-technical-institute/ and https://www.linkedin.com/school/concorde-career-colleges/) as channels of distribution of information about its programs, its planned financial and other announcements, its attendance at upcoming investor and industry conferences, and other matters. Such information may be deemed material information, and the Company may use these channels to comply with its disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. Therefore, investors should monitor the company's website and its social media accounts in addition to following the company's press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, and webcasts.

About Universal Technical Institute, Inc.

Universal Technical Institute, Inc. (NYSE:UTI) was founded in 1965 and is a leading workforce solutions provider serving students, partners and communities nationwide. The company offers high-quality education and support services for in-demand careers via its two divisions: UTI and Concorde Career Colleges. The UTI division operates 15 campuses located in nine states, with more announced, and offers a wide range of transportation, skilled trades, electrical and energy training programs. Concorde operates across 18 campuses in eight states and online, with more announced, offering programs in the allied health, dental, nursing, patient care and diagnostic fields. For more information, visit www.uti.edu or www.concorde.edu; LinkedIn at @UniversalTechnicalInstitute and @Concorde Career Colleges; or X at @news_UTI and @ConcordeCareer.

Company Contact:

Matt Kempton

VP Corporate Finance & Investor Relations

Universal Technical Institute, Inc.

(623)445-9392

mkempton@uti.edu 

Media Contact:

Susan Aspey

Vice President, Corporate Affairs & External Communications

Universal Technical Institute, Inc.

(202) 549-0534

saspey@uti.edu 

Investor Relations Contact:

Matt Glover or Ralf Esper

Gateway Group, Inc.

(949) 574-3860

UTI@gateway-grp.com 

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Financial Summary by Segment and Consolidated

As part of Phase II of our North Star growth strategy and to support our new campus growth initiatives, we have further refined our operating model to best pursue future growth goals and support the business. In furtherance of the foregoing, we have centralized the operations of our accounting, finance, information technology, human resources, and real estate departments to leverage economies of scale and create efficiencies to support our continued growth. Due to this centralization, we have adjusted our allocation methodology to allocate the majority of the Corporate segment's costs to the UTI and Concorde segments based upon a percentage of revenue. Due to these changes in allocation methodology, the prior year segment disclosures have been recast for comparability to the current year presentation.

 

 

 

 

 

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SOURCE Universal Technical Institute, Inc.