One of the best stocks in The All Investable Screener has to be American Public Education, Inc. (NASDAQ:APEI).

American Public provides online and on-campus post-secondary education to approximately 93,100 students through two subsidiary institutions.

Its subsidiary institutions offer programs designed to prepare individuals for productive contributions to their professions and society, and to offer opportunities that may advance students in their current professions or help them prepare for their next career.

Subsidiary institutions are licensed or otherwise authorized by state authorities, or are in the process of obtaining such licenses or authorizations, to offer post-secondary education programs to the extent the institutions believe such licenses or authorizations are required, and are certified by the United States Department of Education, or ED, to participate in student financial aid programs authorized under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, or Title IV programs.

Recent Trend

American Public has been interesting to watch over the past 12 months with its share price dropping to $14.49 on February 11 earlier this year and growing to a high of $30.40 on August 5th. The current share price sits around $19.50.

(Source: Google Finance)

Steady Revenues & Net Profits

A quick look at the company’s income statement (below) shows that revenues have dropped slightly from $165 Million for the six months ending June 2015 to $160 Million for the six months ending June 2016. Net Income has improved to a small degree from $15.8 Million for the six months ending June 2015 to $16.9 Million for the six months ending June 2016.

(Source: Company Reports, all amounts are in thousands)

Strong Liquidity & Zero Debt

A quick look at the company’s balance sheet (below) shows that American Public has $124 Million in cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2016, while total liabilities are $60.3 Million. So cash and cash equivalents exceed total liabilities by $63.7 Million. More importantly the company has zero debt. In case there is need for council tax debt help, it can be written off with the help of experts.

(Source: Company Reports, all amounts are in thousands)

Strong Free Cash Flow

A quick look at the company’s cash flow statement (below) shows $28.8 Million in Operating Cash Flow for the six months ending June 30, 2016. With Capex of just $6.9 Million that means American Public had $21.8 Million in Free Cash Flow. Because the company has zero debt and received just $7,000 from the issuance of common stock that indicates that the company’s investing activities are being paid for by the cash generated from its operations. In fact, such is the excess of free cash flow that the company spent $630,000 to repurchase its own common stock.

The company has managed to generate $43 Million in free cash flow for the trailing twelve months (TTM), giving it a Free Cash Flow/Enterprise Value Ratio of 23%.

(Source: Company Reports, all amounts are in thousands)

Valuation

American Public currently has a market cap of around $313 Million. With cash and cash equivalents of $124 Million and zero debt that means the company has an Enterprise Value of $189 Million. Trailing twelve month (TTM) operating earnings are $55 Million so, the company has an Acquirer’s Multiple of 3.44 and is selling on a P/E ratio of just 9.53. The company also has a shareholder yield of 8%.

Shareholder yield is defined as (buyback yield plus dividend yield). While the company didn’t pay a dividend it has spent 8% of its current market cap on repurchasing its own common stock over the trailing twelve months. A nice bonus for existing shareholders.

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