Anhanguera Jumps to Highest Since September as Profit Jumps

Anhanguera Educacional Participacoes SA (AEDU3), Brazil’s largest education company by market value, advanced to an eight-month high after reporting profit that exceeded some analysts’ forecasts.

Anhanguera rose 5.3 percent to 27.05 reais at the close of trading in Sao Paulo, the highest price since Sept. 1. The benchmark Bovespa index climbed 0.7 percent.

The company reported first-quarter net income rose 34 percent from a year earlier to 62 million reais ($32 million), exceeding an estimate for profit of 58.4 million reais by analysts at Fator Corretora. The number of new undergraduate and graduate students enrolled grew 46 percent to 146,900.

“Anhanguera posted a good result,” Fator analysts including Jacqueline Lison wrote in a note to clients. Enrollment figures were “excellent,” they said.

The number of students financed by the government loan system known as FIES increased to 36,125 in the first quarter, from 4,189 a year before, Anhanguera said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ney Hayashi in Sao Paulo at ncruz4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos in New York at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net