The Publishers Weekly Stock Index got caught in Wall Street's wild August with all but one of the companies on the PWSI seeing their share prices fall in the month. The lone winner was McGraw-Hill, whose stock price benefited from the belief that pressure from shareholders to split up the publisher will yield a more profitable company. A bad second-quarter report contributed to driving Hastings Entertainment's share price down by 30% in August, the biggest decline on the PWSI. Barnes & Noble had its own roller-coaster ride apart from the volatile market; its share price plunged when speculation leaked that Liberty Media would not go ahead with its $17 per share offer to buy the company, rebounded a bit when Liberty made its $204 million investment, and finished the month on a high note following an encouraging report for the first fiscal quarter.
Winners
| Company | Jul. 29 | Aug 31 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| McGraw-Hill Cos. | 41.60 | 42.11 | 1.2% |
Losers
| Company | Jul. 29 | Aug 31 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hastings Ent. | 4.63 | 3.24 | -30.0 |
| Barnes & Noble | 17.40 | 13.34 | -23.3 |
| Courier Corp. | 9.61 | 7.41 | -22.9 |
| R.R. Donnelley | 19.15 | 15.25 | -20.3 |
| Books-A-Million | 3.09 | 2.61 | -15.5 |
| Walt Disney Co. | 38.62 | 34.07 | -11.8 |
| Reed Elsevier | 36.40 | 32.89 | -9.6 |
| CBS | 27.37 | 25.05 | -8.5 |
| Educational Dev. Corp. | 5.50 | 5.20 | -5.5 |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| Stock Index | 523.74 | 491.02 | -6.2 |
| Dow Jones Aver. | 12,143.24 | 11,613.53 | -4.4 |
Source: publishers weekly
