The Publishers Weekly Stock Index managed to eke out a 0.6% gain in September, despite the fact that the stock price of 12 companies fell in the month, while only nine rose. The small increase posted by PWSI was better than the decline of 1.5% posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the month. Two companies whose stock price has been battered this year led the gains in September, topped by the 21.2% increase in the stock price of Books-A-Million, while Reader's Digest's stock price had a nice bounce, rising 15%. The biggest loser in the month was Educational Development Corp., whose stock price fell 7.3%. EDC's stock price rallied a bit late in September, following the announcement of record second-quarter results.
Industry Stocks: September Performances
| Company | August 29 | September 30 | % Change |
| Winners | |||
| Books-A-Million | 3.40 | 4.12 | 21.2% |
| Reader's Digest | 12.17 | 13.99 | 15.0 |
| Thomas Nelson | 12.25 | 13.81 | 12.7 |
| Amazon.com | 46.32 | 48.43 | 4.5 |
| Banta | 34.73 | 36.00 | 3.6 |
| Losers | |||
| Educational Dev. Corp. | 13.03 | 12.08 | -7.3% |
| John Wiley & Sons | 27.95 | 25.99 | -7.0 |
| Pearson | 9.95 | 9.57 | -3.8 |
| Barnes & Noble | 26.20 | 25.41 | -3.0 |
| Courier Corp. | 52.24 | 50.91 | -2.5 |
| Publishers Weekly | |||
| Stock Index | 462.69 | 465.41 | 0.6% |
| Dow Jones Average | 9,415.82 | 9,275.06 | -1.5% |
| Source: Reed Business Information | |||
