Hot Stocks in the Worst January Ever

Have you realized it yet? In today's stock market if you don't take a profit right now, it could be gone in the next hour, or next day.

We just witnessed the worst January ever for the stock market with a decline of nine percent for the Dow Jones Industrial Average alone. The second-worst drop was in January 1916, when the Dow dropped 8.6 percent. I'll say it for you. Is history repeating itself?

Is it time to cash out? Game over? Time to get on the phone with your stock broker and yell, "Show me the money?" I don't think so. With a little education (hint, hint) you'll find the right sector with the right stocks.

My attention is turning toward one of the largest for-profit, post-secondary education companies in North America, Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (Nasdaq: COCO). Headquartered in Santa Ana, Calif., Corinthian Colleges, Inc. (CCi) has over 100 campuses within the United States and Canada.

After experiencing a decline from $16.37 per share to $14.56 per share in mid-January, CCi ended the month up 14 percent ($2.31), closing at $18.68 per share. CCi polished off the worst January ever with a new 52-week high of $19.50 per share. The big picture is even better. CCi is up 129 percent over the past year from a price of $8.00 per share.

The company's second quarter results ending December 31, 2007 showed net revenue was $272.6 million versus $235.1 million, up 15.9 percent with total student population at 67,744 versus 61,800 at December 31, 2006, an increase of 9.6 percent.

One thing CCi doesn't have is a quarterly dividend. For a good quarterly dividend play in the education sector take a look at Strayer Education, Inc. (Nasdaq: STRA).

Strayer is another post-secondary education services corporation. As of December 31, 2007, the company had more than 32,000 students enrolled in its programs. A smaller student base then CCi but a bigger stock price and healthy dividend.

Strayer's stock ended January up 1 percent ($2.02) with a closing price of $216.43 per share. The stock is up 31 percent ($51.57) over the past year.

In October, Strayer came in at number 20 on Forbes "200 Best Small Companies" list. The company has increased it's dividend from $0.04 in 2004 to $0.50 cents today.

With annual five percent tuition increases, financial results for the past eleven quarters have been above expectations and management's guidance for 2009 shows continued double-digit growth.

Before you put your money anywhere near today's crazy stock market, get a little "education."

Disclosure: The author does not own shares of COCO or STRA.