Industry Stocks: August Performances

With stock prices rising at eight companies and falling at five, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 5.5% in August, beating the increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average by more than two percentage points. The big winner in the month was Barnes & Noble, whose share price rose 14.6%. During August, the company introduced the Galaxy Tab 4 Nook, a 7-in. tablet cobranded with Samsung. Amazon’s share price reversed a recent swoon and rose 8.3% in the month. Of the many announcements the company made in August, the one that investors seemed to like the best was the news that Amazon was getting in the mobile checkout business. Chegg, whose stock price has struggled this year, also had a solid month, particularly after announcing that it struck a deal with Ingram for the wholesaler to take over most of the backend operations. Books-A-Million’s stock price had the biggest decline in August, falling 4.3%.