The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose by similar amounts in April, with the Dow ahead 4.8% and the PWSI up 4.3%. The stock prices of nine companies on the PWSI rose in the month while prices declined at four. Barnes & Noble’s stock price continued to be the most volatile in the publishing and bookselling industries. After falling 31% in February, the price rose 19.6% in April as investors try to figure out if B&N is a dying bricks-and-mortar bookstore chain or a print/digital bookstore poised for big growth. Investors have no doubts about Amazon, as the stock price of the e-tailer ran up over $15 in the month. While Wall Street tends to frown on companies that make large investments in their operations, investors seemed to accept Amazon’s argument made in discussing first-quarter results that investments now will pay off in a big way in the future.

Winners

Company Mar. 31 Apr. 29 % Change
Barnes & Noble 9.19 10.99 19.6%
Books-A-Million 4.13 4.62 11.9
Amazon 180.13 195.81 8.7
Pearson 17.80 19.05 7.0
Hastings Ent. 4.76 4.98 4.6

Losers

Educational Dev. Corp. 6.00 5.80 -3.3
Scholastic 27.04 26.28 -2.8
Courier Corp. 13.96 13.70 -1.9
R.R. Donnelley 18.92 18.86 -0.3
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 475.17 495.60 4.3
Dow Jones Aver. 12,319.73 12,810.54 4.8