Education Stocks Winning on Both Sides of the Pacific

Among the top stories in the market this week were for-profit education stocks, with both domestic and Chinese players emerging as market leaders.

In the U.S., the action was spurred by news that President Obama is expected to announce increased support for community colleges. On Wednesday, a Chicago Tribune blog quoted White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel telling the Democratic Leadership Council, “In the next couple of weeks, you will see a major announcement by the president on community colleges and job training.” Though the particulars remain vague, investors moved into education stocks in advance of an official announcement.

The Education Stocks Index was a top performer this week, gaining 4.2%. The Index, which includes both domestic and Chinese stocks, was led by Bridgeport Education (BPI), K12 (LRN), and American Public Education (Nasdaq: APEI). University of Phoenix parent Apollo Group and Strayer Education (Nasdaq: STRA) both posted modest gains on the week.

The Chinese Education Stocks Index, meanwhile, was up 6.5% on the week. Leading the way was Chinacast Education (Nasdaq: CAST), up 12% over the week. According to The Fly on the Wall, the company, which is a Chinese e-learning and training services provider, received positive comments from the newsletter of popular growth-oriented money manager Louis Navellier. Navellier’s top-15, U.S.-listed, equity holdings from the end of Q1 can be found at tickerspy.com.

Elsewhere in the Index, ChinaEdu (Nasdaq: CEDU), Noah Education Holdings (NED), and New Oriental Education (EDU) were all posting weekly gains.

The above Indexes represent two of the top tickerspy Indexes over the last week.

Investors can follow these and other Indexes and view related performance charts and metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: APEI, BPI, CAST, CEDU, EDU, LRN, NED, STRA