With investors betting that John Malone's $17 per share bid for Barnes & Noble will go higher, B&N's stock price jumped 78.5% in May to a 52-week high of $19.62 at the end of the month. Some market analysts have speculated that a final bid could come in the $20 to $22 range. Largely thanks to B&N's gains, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 3.0% in the month split between seven winners and six losers. Another big winner in May was Donnelley, which overcame a disappointing first-quarter report to post a 13.1% increase in its stock price helped by a $1 per share buyback program. The biggest May loser was Books-A-Million, which lost money in its first quarter and said it expected the second period to be another difficult quarter.
Winners
| Company | April 29 | May 31 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes & Noble | 10.99 | 19.62 | 78.5% |
| R.R. Donnelley | 18.86 | 21.34 | 13.1 |
| CBS | 25.22 | 27.95 | 10.8 |
| McGraw-Hill Cos. | 40.47 | 42.47 | 4.9 |
| John Wiley | 50.93 | 53.00 | 4.1 |
Losers
| Books-A-Million | 4.62 | 3.77 | -18.4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courier Corp. | 13.70 | 11.29 | -17.6 |
| Educational Dev. Corp. | 5.80 | 5.52 | -5.1 |
| Disney Company | 43.10 | 41.63 | -3.4 |
| Pearson | 19.05 | 18.83 | -1.1 |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| Stock Index | 495.60 | 510.52 | 3.0 |
| Dow Jones Aver. | 12,319.73 | 12,810.54 | -1.9 |
