The Publishers Weekly Stock Index managed to eke out a 0.6% gain in September, despite the fact that the stock price of 12 companies fell in the month, while only nine rose. The small increase posted by PWSI was better than the decline of 1.5% posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the month. Two companies whose stock price has been battered this year led the gains in September, topped by the 21.2% increase in the stock price of Books-A-Million, while Reader's Digest's stock price had a nice bounce, rising 15%. The biggest loser in the month was Educational Development Corp., whose stock price fell 7.3%. EDC's stock price rallied a bit late in September, following the announcement of record second-quarter results.

Industry Stocks: September Performances

Company August 29 September 30 % Change
Winners
Books-A-Million 3.40 4.12 21.2%
Reader's Digest 12.17 13.99 15.0
Thomas Nelson 12.25 13.81 12.7
Amazon.com 46.32 48.43 4.5
Banta 34.73 36.00 3.6
Losers
Educational Dev. Corp. 13.03 12.08 -7.3%
John Wiley & Sons 27.95 25.99 -7.0
Pearson 9.95 9.57 -3.8
Barnes & Noble 26.20 25.41 -3.0
Courier Corp. 52.24 50.91 -2.5
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 462.69 465.41 0.6%
Dow Jones Average 9,415.82 9,275.06 -1.5%
Source: Reed Business Information