[ET Net News Agency, 23 September 2019] Citi Research deemed Hope Education's (01765)
57% growth in student enrolment for school year 2019/20 as decent and reiterated its "buy"
rating and HK$1.9 target price on the stock following its recent upgrades.
Thanks to its margin rebounds and strategic M&As, Hope is among Citi's preferred mid-cap
school names together with China Education (00839) and Kepei Education (01890).
Excluding student enrollment from recently acquired schools (e.g. Hebi Automotive
Engineering Professional College, Suzhou Top Institute and Yinchuan University of Energy),
Citi estimated organic growth of existing schools could reach 23%, which is also decent.
Citi believes Hope's growth this year would be mostly driven by student enrollment, as
tuition fee could stay largely unchanged. (KL)