UPDATE 1-Career Education Corp shares jump on strong results

BANGALORE, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Shares of Career Education Corp rose as much as 11 percent Thursday, a day after the education company posted strong quarterly results.

The results benefitted from a strong market for education companies as well as some of the actions taken to better capitalize on the market conditions, the company said on a conference call with analysts.

'We are encouraged by Career Education's progress in its turnaround efforts as evidenced by improving starts and revenue and margins above our expectation,' Robert W. Baird analyst Amy Junker said in a note issued before the call.

Career Education said new programs at its American InterContinental University (AIU), which accounted for 23 percent of third-quarter revenue, will be delayed from the original schedule of early 2010.

The Higher Learning Commission had advised the university that new program approvals will be subject to satisfying certain recommendations associated with the initial accreditation report, leading to the delay, the company said.

Separately Career Education said in a filing that AIU was notified by the Education Department regarding a program review that would be conducted in November.

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $23 from $21.

Shares of the company were up 10 percent at $22.95 in late morning Thursday on Nasdaq. They rose to as much as $23.07 earlier in the session.

(Reporting by Amulya Nagaraj in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan, Unnikrishnan Nair) Keywords: CAREEREDUCATION/SHARES ([e-mail]; within U.S. [phone]; outside U.S. [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.