NEW ORIENTAL-S (09901) climbed 5.12% in morning trading, currently trading at HK$41.48 with a turnover of HK$122 million.

Recently, Daiwa issued a research report stating that after reviewing New Oriental's operating performance for the summer 2025 semester and the FY2025 results of its subsidiary Dongfang Zhenxuan, the firm believes the group's overall business development is trending toward stability. The K-9 autumn student retention rate has improved, and the overseas exam preparation business is no longer deteriorating. New Oriental also announced that starting from FY2026, it plans to return at least 50% of the previous fiscal year's net profit attributable to shareholders through dividend distributions or share buybacks.

Daiwa expressed optimism that the shareholder return ratio could be significantly higher than the group's committed 50%, potentially reaching high double-digit percentages or even exceeding 100%, which the firm believes would serve as a key positive catalyst for the stock. Daiwa raised its revenue forecasts for New Oriental's FY2026-2028 by 1% to 2%, and earnings per share forecasts by 0.2% to 5%. The firm reiterated its "Buy" rating and raised the target price from HK$43 to HK$49.