Name that company

I’m the world’s largest gaming company, with $4.7 billion in annual revenue, more than 29,000 hotel rooms, 2 million square feet of casino space and 55,000 employees. I own, manage or have an interest in 29 gaming properties under some brand names you might have heard of, such as Caesars, Paris, Bally’s, Flamingo, Hilton and Grand Casinos. I operate on four continents and in five countries: the United States, Canada, South Africa, Uruguay and Australia. I was created in December 1998 and am based in Las Vegas. My name is valuable on a Monopoly board, too. Who am I?

(Answer: Park Place Entertainment)

Showtime at the Apollo

For-profit post-secondary schools have been hot lately, and few of the sector’s stocks have sizzled as much as Apollo Group. Even though the overall stock market has fallen for three straight years, Apollo’s shares have quadrupled during that period. Apollo’s stock climbed so quickly that it declared seven stock splits in the last eight years. The company has achieved 30 percent in annualized earnings growth in the past five years.

Why has Apollo gone to the head of the class while so many other companies have flunked out? As the parent company of the popular Web-based University of Phoenix Online, Apollo has been the beneficiary of a workplace in flux. From displaced employees wanting to learn new career skills to companies attempting to retool their existing work force, Apollo has fed the hunger for vocational know-how.

But with the stock’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio hovering around 50, this star pupil has priced itself out of reach in a sobered market. If you want an alternative to this teacher’s pet, other niche players are worth keeping an eye on. Corinthian Colleges has actually increased earnings at a faster clip than Apollo, yet it’s fetching a more reasonable P/E of 35. Other peers, such as DeVry and Strayer Education, sport even lower prices relative to earnings, but their growth rates are slower, too.