Industry & Services >> Analyst Interviews >> September 7, 2009

Outlook For Education & E-learning – Robert L. Craig & Jerry R. Herman – Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc.

Robert L. Craig is Managing Director in Education and e-Learning at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. He joined the Stifel Nicolaus Research Team in connection with Stifel's acquisition of Legg Mason's Capital Markets Group in December 2005. He joined Legg Mason in January 2001. He and his partner, Jerry R. Herman, cover education/e-learning companies. He has over 25 years' experience in the investment industry. His years with Legg Mason were preceded by 15 years with First Union Securities and its predecessor companies, and two years with Kidder Peabody. At First Union Securities and EVEREN Securities, he and Mr. Herman focused on both educational services and business services, which included expertise in marketing services and information management services. At Kidder Peabody, he evaluated medium-size regional investment opportunities. He researched similar regional companies for Kemper Securities, from 1990 to 1992. Before then, he was an analyst and Director of Equity Research marketing for Prescott, Ball & Turben, which he joined in 1983. Both he and Mr. Herman have provided industry joint research coverage of the education sector since 1995. They have served as featured speakers at many independent conferences, produced comprehensive industry publications, and been regularly featured and quoted widely in national publications and media. Since the inception of the StarMine ranking system in 2001, they have been rated in the top three for earnings accuracy in the consumer services industry every year. Forbes.com in conjunction with StarMine ranked them number one for earnings estimate accuracy in the commercial services and supplies category in 2004 and 2005, and number two in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In 2005 they also ranked number six overall in the US out of all analysts surveyed for earnings accuracy. They were named by The Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street," ranking number two in the specialty retailing category for stock picking in both 2005 and 2008. Also in 2008 they were included in the Financial Times "World's Top Analysts," ranking number one in the US for earnings accuracy in the diversified consumer services category and in the top 10 for earnings estimate accuracy out of over 1,900 estimators surveyed. Mr. Craig has a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Cleveland State University and has served as a member of the Career Colleges Association Financial Advisory Council. Profile
Jerry R. Herman is Managing Director in Education and e-Learning at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc. He joined the Stifel Nicolaus Research Team in connection with Stifel's acquisition of Legg Mason's Capital Markets Group in December 2005. He joined Legg Mason in January 2001. He and his partner, Bob Craig, cover education/e-learning companies. He has over 24 years' experience as a sellside equity analyst, covering a variety of industries including consumer durables, specialty chemicals, and business and marketing services. Prior to Legg Mason he was at First Union/Wachovia Securities and its predecessor companies for 10 years, and prior to that at Roulston & Company, an institutional equity research boutique. Earlier in his career, he was with Gulf Oil Corporation. He and Mr. Craig have provided industry joint research coverage of the education sector since 1995. They have served as featured speakers at many independent conferences, produced comprehensive industry publications, and been regularly featured and quoted widely in national publications and media. Since the inception of the StarMine ranking system in 2001, they have been rated in the top three for earnings accuracy in the consumer services industry every year. Forbes.com in conjunction with StarMine ranked them number one for earnings estimate accuracy in the commercial services and supplies category in 2004 and 2005, and number two in 2006 and 2007, respectively. In 2005 they also ranked number six overall in the US out of all analysts surveyed for earnings accuracy. They were named by The Wall Street Journal "Best on the Street," ranking number two in the specialty retailing category for stock picking in both 2005 and 2008. Also in 2008 they were included in the Financial Times "World's Top Analysts," ranking number one in the US for earnings accuracy in the diversified consumer services category and in the top 10 for earnings estimate accuracy out of over 1,900 estimators surveyed. He has a BA degree in Management from Bowling Green University, from which he graduated magna cum laude, and an MBA degree from Cleveland State University. He also has served as a member of the Career Colleges Association Financial Advisory Council. He is a CFA charte Profile
TWST: Our current focus is on education, and it's been a pretty hot

sector of the market. What's going on? What's driving investor interest in this

space at this point?

Mr. Craig: Well, it's