Company July 31 August 30 % Change
The Publishers Weekly Stock Index stopped a four-month losing streak in August, posting a 3.1% increase over July. The PWSI outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which dropped 0.8% in the month. During August, the stock prices of 13 companies rose, while prices fell at eight. At 14%, Banta Corp. had the largest increase in the month as the printer reported solid second-quarter results late in July and announced the appointment of a new CEO in late August. Borders Group and Barnes & Noble were able to shrug off a negative report by Merrill Lynch to post gains of 6.5% and 6.3%, respectively. A weak second quarter contributed to a 15.5% decline at Thomas Nelson, and Advanced Marketing Services' stock had a significant drop for the second consecutive month following a weaker than expected second-quarter report released in July. At companies whose stock is trading below the PWSI minimum $4 per share level, Barnesandnoble.com's stock price fell to 74 cents from 86 cents and the e-tailer faces possible delisting from NASDAQ unless it can raise its share price above $1 per share. An encouraging quarterly report pushed Franklin Electronic Publishers' stock price to $1.52 from 96 cents.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
Banta Corp. 32.92 37.54 14.0%
Scholastic 38.99 42.18 8.2
Borders Group 17.70 18.86 6.5
Barnes & Noble 21.54 22.89 6.3
Reed International 34.51 36.45 5.6
Losers
Thomas Nelson 12.55 10.60 -15.5%
Advanced Marketing 14.75 13.55 -8.1
R.R. Donnelley 27.79 26.38 -5.1
Hastings 5.71 5.47 -4.2
Educational Dev. Corp. 6.90 6.78 -1.7
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 386.38 398.39 3.1%
Dow Jones Average 8,736.59 8,663.50 -0.8%