Company December 31 January 31 % Change
January was a good month for the Publishers Weekly Stock Index, with the stock prices of 15 of the index's 21 companies posting an increase, leading to a 5.9% increase in the PWSI for the month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.0% in January. Better than expected holiday sales for both online and physical retailers pushed the stock price up for all retailers included on the PWSI. Amazon.com had the largest gain as the company reported strong holiday sales and recorded its first quarterly profit in the fourth quarter. Good gains over the holidays also boosted the stock prices of the nation's two largest chains, Barnes & Noble and Borders Group. The one publisher among the top five performers was Educational Development Corp., whose stock price continues to benefit from strong results in the home business division. Several companies whose stocks are trading below the $4 minimum to be considered among the winners and losers for the month had good gains led by MediaBay, whose stock price jumped 209% to $1.92, and Barnes&Noble.com, whose price rose 58%, to $2.44. On the down side, Reader's Digest had the biggest decline due to a disappointing second quarter.
Source: Cahners Publishing
Winners
Amazon.com 10.82 14.19 31.1%
Hastings Entertainment 4.30 5.50 27.9
Educational Dev. Corp. 5.50 6.99 27.1
Borders Group 19.84 24.10 21.5
Barnes & Noble 29.60 34.81 17.6
Losers
Reader's Digest 23.08 21.04 -7.3%
Pearson 12.28 11.65 -5.1
Reed International 33.30 32.46 -2.5
R.R. Donnelley 29.69 29.05 -2.2
Scholastic 50.33 49.59 -1.5
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 405.63 429.36 5.9%
Dow Jones Average 10,021.50 9,920.00 -1.0%