Sallie Mae (SLM) Q2 2021 Earnings Call Transcript fool.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fool.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
College enrollments tumbled. Unemployment rates shot up. Loans in forbearance were commonplace.
In 2020, a confluence of factors arising from the coronavirus pandemic hurt student loan lender
SLM (NASDAQ:SLM), better known as Sallie Mae. The lender s stock price took a hit as a result, stuck as low as $6 at one point down 50% from its February peak. At one point, the lender saw its price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio drop under 4.
The drastic drop in stock price had gone too far, and the company decided to do something about it. In the latter half of last year and into this year, Sallie Mae committed to buying back a significant amount of stock at rock-bottom prices. This has helped boost the stock s price by 55% this year as of Thursday morning s prices.
4 DFAS HEADQUARTERS, April 19, 2021 Just over a year ago, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service moved its operations to a widespread and sustained telework environment in response to COVID-19 conditions.
The decision on March 17, 2020, to authorize liberal telework across the agency was months in the making as senior leadership used its existing Disaster Management Group (DMG) to work closely with DoD Leadership and monitor emerging conditions globally and nationally. The number one consideration was how we keep the workforce safe, said DFAS Principal Deputy Director Jonathan Witter, and then, how do we continue to support the mission and support our customers?
4 DFAS HEADQUARTERS, April 19, 2021 – As we take a deeper, more introspective look into the year of COVID-19, we continue to acknowledge the resiliency of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service and its employees.
Tony Hullinger, Strategy and Support deputy director, ended part 1 of this series by stating, DFAS never missed a beat as we seamlessly transitioned to a virtual environment, remained resilient in supporting the mission to our customers despite a myriad of changes and requests that came our way, and always ensured the safety, security, and well-being of our workforce the whole way.
After watching the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local communities where DFAS sites were located, DFAS leadership decided in March 2020 to shift a majority of the 11,500 DFAS employees to a full time telework environment.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Sallie Mae 2020 Q4 Earnings Call. [Operator Instructions] After the speakers presentation there will be a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]
I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Brian Cronin, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Brian J. Cronin
Vice President, Investor Relations
Thank you, Angel. Good morning, and welcome to Sallie Mae s Fourth Quarter 2020 Earnings Call. It is my pleasure to be here today with Jon Witter, our CEO; and Steve McGarry, our CFO. After the prepared remarks, we will open up the call for questions.