Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM -0.27%) jumped 10.3% on Wednesday after the child care and workforce education services provider delivered stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
Bright Horizons nurtures a solid quarter
Bright Horizons' fourth-quarter 2023 revenue grew 16% year over year to $616 million, while its adjusted (non-generally accepted accounting principles, or non-GAAP) net income rose 9% to $48 million, or $0.83 per share. Wall Street analysts, on average, were only modeling earnings of $0.74 per share on revenue of $591.7 million.
Bright Horizons CEO Stephen Kramer called it a "solid" quarter, highlighting enrollment gains and 15% revenue growth from the company's Full-Service segment. The company's Backup segment also saw revenue grow a better-than-expected 24% year over year during the quarter, exceeding $500 million for the full year.
Bright Horizons ended 2023 with 1,450 employer-client relationships and 1,049 early education and child care centers with enough capacity for 120,000 children and their families.
What's next for Bright Horizons shareholders?
Looking ahead to 2024, Bright Horizons issued guidance for full-year revenue of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion, with adjusted earnings per share of $3.00 to $3.20. Most analysts were looking for 2024 earnings of $3.13 per share on revenue, near the low end of Bright Horizons' revenue outlook range.
All told, this was a comfortable quarterly beat followed by strong forward revenue guidance, apparently fueled by a continued shift in employees returning to the office. Shares of Bright Horizons Family Solutions are understandably extending their recent rally in response.
