With all 13 companies on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index posting gains in the month, the PWSI finished February with a 6.8% increase over the close of January 2015. The biggest increase was posted by Chegg, whose stock price jumped 22.5%, largely due to its announcement that it was outsourcing all of its physical textbook operations to Ingram and would focus on services for college students. The 6% increase in Barnes & Noble’s share price resulted from the announcement late in the month that it is spinning off its college business as a separate company, to be known as Barnes & Noble Education. Amazon had the biggest increase in the month, with its share price increasing $25.63; for the first two months of 2015, Amazon’s shares rose about 22.5%.
| Winners | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | Jan. 30 | Feb. 27 | % Change |
| Chegg | 6.63 | 8.12 | 22.5% |
| News Corp | 14.44 | 16.82 | 16.5% |
| R.R. Donnelley | 16.47 | 19.07 | 15.8% |
| CBS | 54.81 | 59.10 | 7.8% |
| Pearson | 20.26 | 21.85 | 7.8% |
| Amazon | 354.53 | 380.16 | 7.2% |
| Barnes & Noble | 23.49 | 24.90 | 6.0% |
| Publishers Weekly Stock Index | 639.32 | 682.70 | 6.8% |
| Dow Jones Aver. | 17,169.95 | 18,132.70 | 5.6% |
Source: Publishers Weekly
