Company March 28 April 30 % Change
After increasing 6.8% in March, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index was virtually flat in April, dipping 0.2% in the month. The performance was substantially better than the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 4.4% in April. Thirteen companies on the PWSI had an increase in their stock price, while the stock price at eight companies fell. MediaBay, whose stock has increased steadily this year, had the biggest gain in April with its stock price up 18.8%. Another company whose stock price has shown steady improvement this year is Books-A-Million, and its stock rose again in April, up 12.6%. Investors apparently liked Amazon.com's first-quarter report and drove the stock price up 16.7% in the month. Although Hastings Entertainment had the largest price decline in the month, three of the PWSI largest companies—Pearson, Scholastic and McGraw-Hill—all saw their stock price decline by just over 6%.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
MediaBay 3.40 4.04 18.8%
Amazon.com 14.30 16.69 16.7
Books-A-Million 3.90 4.39 12.6
Reader's Digest 22.41 23.80 6.2
Educational Dev. Corp. 7.00 7.40 5.7
Losers
Hastings Entertainment 7.89 7.15 -9.4%
Pearson 13.33 12.43 -6.7
Scholastic 54.19 50.73 -6.4
McGraw-Hill Cos. 68.25 63.99 -6.2
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 463.80 462.95 -0.2%
Dow Jones Average 10,403.94 9,946.22 -4.4%