UPDATE: Citigroup Downgrades Bridgepoint Education to Neutral on Lack of Guidance

Citigroup reduced its rating on Bridgepoint Education

from Buy to Neutral, both High Risk, and cut its price target from $31 to $12. Citigroup commented, "BPI suspended its guidance citing lack of visibility from recent accreditation developments. While we appreciate the sensitive nature of the accreditation process, and certainly understand there are numerous concurrent initiatives that make outlook difficult, we find it more difficult to recommend the shares while the company explores its options. We remain somewhat confident that Ashford can navigate its way to re-accreditation or transition to a new accreditor, but given the timeline (HLC response in 1Q13, WASC response in early 3Q13), we see little nearterm reason to add to (or initiating new) positions in the shares - especially given the bear case scenario of a loss of accreditation." Bridgepoint Education closed at $10.58 on Tuesday.