One of the few Orange County stocks up Thursday on a dismal day on Wall Street: Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc.
The operator of vocational schools closed up 7% on a market value of nearly $1.6 billion.
It was one of just a handful of major local stocks to close higher on a day when national stock indexes slumped on fears of a prolonged recession after the release of bad unemployment and housing construction data.
Yet a bigger than expected weekly jump in the number of those filing for first-time unemployment benefits actually boosted Corinthian.
The company, which runs more than 100 schools in the U.S. and Canada that offer degrees and certificates in healthcare, automotive technology, criminal justice, technology and other areas, is seen as a beneficiary of rising unemployment.
Analysts expect to see laid off workers go back to school to train for new jobs, a trend Corinthian already is seeing.
In the September quarter, students at Corinthian’s schools were up 11% from a year earlier to 74,265.
“We’re effectively countercyclical,” Chief Executive Jack Massimino recently told the Business Journal.
In the past week, Corinthian’s shares are up 25%, largely on the prospect of further job losses driving students to vocational school operators.
Corinthian’s gains have outpaced other school operators. DeVry Inc. of Illinois is up about 18% in the past week. Arizona’s Apollo Group Inc. is up about 8%.
