Investors Bet on Trade Schools as AI Clouds White-Collar Job Market

Growing concerns about a white-collar job apocalypse are helping to turn once-sleepy trade school stocks into investor darlings.

Shares of Lincoln Educational Services Corp. have soared 71% over the past six months, while competitor Universal Technical Institute Inc. is up 7%. By contrast, stocks of three major college-degree providers — Phoenix Education Partners, Perdoceo Education Corp., and Strategic Education Inc. — have declined by an average of 17%.