COMPANY July 31 Aug. 29 % CHANGE
Despite a poor second quarter and not-so-great predictions for the remainder of the year, the stock prices of the three major bookstore chains all rose in August, led by Borders, which had a 42.8% jump as investors appeared encouraged by the retailer’s ability to cut its losses. The other big winner in the month was Courier Corp., whose share price rose 26%, helped by the announcement of an expansion of its stock buyback program. Hastings had the biggest loss in August, despite posting decent comp sales and reaffirming its earnings forecast for the year; the retailer did say it was concerned about the ongoing economic uncertainty. In all, stock prices rose at 11 companies on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index and declined at five.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
Borders Group 4.90 7.00 42.8%
Courier Corp. 16.98 21.40 26.0
Books-A-Million 6.10 6.75 10.6
McGraw-Hill 39.80 42.84 7.6
Amazon 76.34 80.81 5.8
John Wiley 45.34 47.58 4.9
Losers
Hastings Ent. 8.51 7.95 -6.6
Pearson 12.82 12.40 -3.3
Marvel Ent. 34.70 33.87 -2.4
CBS 16.36 16.18 -1.1
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 390.47 408.34 4.6
Dow Jones Aver. 11,326.32 11,543.55 1.9