Despite losers outnumbering winners by eight to six, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 3.5% in July, easily beating the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 2.2% in the month. Hastings Entertainment had the largest percentage increase in the month, but it was Amazon that posted the big number—its stock price added over $18 in July as the e-tailer posted better than expected sales and earnings for the second quarter. Scholastic's stock also benefited from a stronger than expected quarterly report (in Scholastic's case for the fourth quarter in fiscal 2011) and investors gave a big boost to the stock as a reward. In the wake of Borders's liquidation, B&N's stock price rose 4.9% in a month of volatile trading for the dominant bookstore chain, while Books-A-Million's stock price fell 10.9%. The biggest loser in July was Courier Corp., as the printer/publisher had a weak third-quarter report.

Winners

Company June 30 July 29 % Change
Hastings Ent. 4.10 4.63 12.9%
Amazon 204.49 222.52 8.8
Scholastic 26.60 28.72 8.0
Barnes & Noble 16.58 17.40 4.9
Educational Dev. Corp. 5.39 5.50 2.0

Losers

Courier Corp. 11.05 9.61 -13.0
Books-A-Million 3.47 3.09 -10.9
CBS 28.39 27.37 -3.9
John Wiley 52.01 50.06 -3.7
R.R. Donnelley 19.61 19.15 -2.3
Publishers Weekly Stock Index 508.23 523.72 3.5
Dow Jones Aver. 12,414.34 12,143.24 -2.2