UPDATE: Jefferies Downgrades New Oriental to Hold on Regulatory Overhang

Jefferies reduced its rating on New Oriental

from Buy to Hold and reduced its price target from $33 to $18. Jefferies said, "EDU disclosed an on-going SEC investigation on its VIE structure. Downgrade to Hold from Buy and cut PT by 45% to US$18 due to this overhang. 4Q12 results were better than expected. FY13 revenue growth guidance of 25~30% driven by robust demand in 2~3 tier cities but lower than consensus due to negative impact from the macro economy slowing down. We revise down FY13 earnings by 6.5% due to more aggressive opening of learning centers." New Oriental closed at $22.26 on Tuesday.