Industry Stocks: May Performances

Company April 30 May 31 % CHANGE
* May 31 PWSI total is after AMS 3-for-2 stock split.
Hungry Minds' stock price fell 13.4% in May, dragged down by its poor financial performance. Although the company had announced several months ago that it expects a difficult year, investors kept the stock price up because of the likelihood of the sale of the company, and while a sale seems certain, investors appear to be questioning what Hungry Minds is worth. The sale of the company played a major role in driving up Houghton Miffin's stock price by 20% in May; although Vivendi's $60 per share purchase of the company wasn't announced until June 1, speculation about a possible deal for HM was reason enough for investors to take a position in the company. Overall, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index increased 3.2% in May, doubling the 1.6% gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Fifteen companies had an increase in their stock price in the month, while seven companies had a decline. During May, Advanced Marketing Services had its third 3-for-2 stock split in three years and also raised its dividend 15%.
Source: Cahners Publishing
Winners
Houghton Mifflin 45.51 54.56 20.0%
R.R. Donnelley 27.84 30.30 8.8
John Wiley 18.65 20.20 8.3
Banta Corp. 26.10 28.00 7.3
Amazon.com 15.78 16.69 5.8
Losers
Company April 30 May 31 % CHANGE
Hungry Minds 7.40 6.41 -13.4%
Pearson 21.25 18.80 -11.5
Scholastic 41.74 39.95 -4.3
Borders Group 18.60 18.27 -1.8
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index * 432.83 438.45 3.2%
Dow Jones Average 10,734.97 10,911.94 1.6%