Company March 31 April 30 % Change
Despite plenty of economic uncertainty, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 4.6% in April, the first time the PWSI has posted a monthly increase this year. Stock prices at 11 companies gained in the month, while falling at five, and the gain in the PWSI was equal to the increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in April. Helped by an upgrade from TheStreet.com, John Wiley & Sons’ stock had the best performance in the month, up 16.0%. Two companies whose prices have been beaten up in recent months rallied in April with McGraw-Hill up 10.9% despite more problems in its S&P unit, while Borders stock increased 7.3%. Books-A-Million’s stock has been up and down in the first part of 2008 and it had the largest loss in April. Scholastic’s stock price was down for the second consecutive month in April, and a reduced forecast for Courier for fiscal 2008 resulted in another dip in its share price last month.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
John Wiley & Sons 39.70 46.05 16.0%
McGraw-Hill Cos. 36.95 40.99 10.9
Amazon 71.30 78.63 10.3
Educational Dev. Corp. 5.79 6.30 8.8
Borders Group 5.87 6.30 7.3
Losers
Books-A-Million 8.74 8.10 -7.3%
Scholastic 30.27 28.15 -7.0
Courier Corp. 27.21 24.95 -8.3
Pearson 13.58 13.17 -3.2
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 407.95 426.81 4.6
Dow Jones Aver. 12,262.89 12,820.13 4.5