BEIJING – October 29, 2026 -- New Oriental Education & Technology Group (NYSE: EDU / 9901.SEHK) reported a 23.1% year-over-year rise in net revenues to US$1,874.5 million for the first quarter of fiscal 2027, ended August 31, 2026. Operating income rose 20.5% to US$374.7 million, and net income attributable to the company rose 13.5% to US$273.2 million.
East Buy and new education initiatives drive the revenue increase
New Oriental attributed the growth mainly to its new educational business initiatives and to East Buy's private label products and livestreaming e-commerce business. New educational business initiatives grew about 24.7%. Domestic test preparation for adults and university students grew about 22.3%. Overseas test preparation and consulting revenue grew about 7.7%.
Executive Chairman Michael Yu said the 23.1% growth was above the company's current full-year guidance range.
Costs rise faster than revenue as East Buy scales
Operating costs and expenses increased 23.7% to US$1,499.8 million, a faster pace than revenue growth overall. Cost of revenues rose 28.1% to US$817.0 million, and selling and marketing expenses rose 30.7% to US$262.2 million. General and administrative expenses rose 12.6% to US$420.7 million. Share-based compensation increased 31.3% to US$30.6 million.
CFO Stephen Zhihui Yang said both the core education business and East Buy expanded their operating margins year over year, helped by operational efficiency and better learning center utilization. East Buy's growing share of total revenue held the consolidated operating margin stable. Yang described the mix shift as an anticipated consequence of scaling new businesses.
East Buy expands to more than 1,000 private label SPUs
East Buy grew its private label portfolio to over 1,000 SPUs and its Douyin channel matrix to more than 30 vertical accounts. It now operates four offline experience stores and is running one-hour delivery trials in Beijing and Shanghai. CEO Chenggang Zhou said East Buy will accelerate private label development, refine App membership operations and improve supply chain efficiency this fiscal year.
Zhou said New Oriental will keep "measured investment" in AI. The spending targets existing product competitiveness, new AI-powered education products and lower labor costs.
Non-academic tutoring reaches 476,000 enrollments across about 60 cities
Non-academic tutoring courses reached around 60 cities in the quarter. The company's intelligent learning system and devices were also adopted in around 60 cities, with approximately 515,000 active paid users. New Oriental Home, the company's cross-department customer service platform, had served over 1,678,000 families across 69 cities by quarter-end. Management expects the platform to raise customer lifetime value and lower customer acquisition costs.
Board approves US$300 million dividend and US$200 million buyback
The board approved an ordinary cash dividend of US$0.2 per common share, or US$2.0 per ADS, for fiscal 2027. The total is expected to be about US$300 million, paid in two equal installments of US$0.1 per share (US$1.0 per ADS). The first installment goes to holders of record on November 18, 2026. Payment is expected on or around December 1, 2026 for common shares and December 4, 2026 for ADSs. The second installment is expected about six months after the first, with its record date still to be set.
The company fully used its US$300 million 2026 Share Repurchase Program as of October 29, 2026, buying back about 56.2 million common shares, including shares represented by ADSs. The new 2027 Share Repurchase Program authorizes up to US$200 million over 12 months from board approval. No shares had been repurchased under it as of October 27, and New Oriental expects to fund purchases from existing cash.