COMPANY Jan. 31 Feb. 29 % CHANGE
February was the second consecutive month in which the Publishers Weekly Stock Index fell significantly faster than the Dow Jones Industrial Average. After falling 7.3% in January, the PWSI tumbled another 7.7% last month as the stock prices of 12 companies fell, while rising at only five. The stock prices of four of the industry’s largest bookselling companies were hammered in the month—Books-A-Million, Borders Group, Barnes & Noble and Amazon all fell by at least 17%. Those declines came before B&N’s less-than-rosy predictions for 2008, which put further pressure on that company’s stock price. The largest price increase was posted by Reed Elsevier, which announced in the month it was looking for a buyer for its Reed Business Information group, parent company of PW.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
Reed Elsevier 48.44 50.06 3.3%
Courier Corp. 26.50 27.21 2.7
Pearson 12.90 13.24 2.6
Scholastic 34.27 34.87 1.7
Losers
Books-A-Million 10.67 8.29 -22.3
Borders Group 11.29 9.26 -18.0
Barnes & Noble 33.93 28.12 -17.1
Amazon 77.70 64.47 -17.0
Marvel Ent. 28.15 25.15 -10.6
CBS 25.20 22.82 -10.1
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 455.33 420.27 -7.7
Dow Jones Aver. 12,650.36 12,266.39 -3.0