CBS, parent company of Simon & Schuster, was the only company on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index to have an increase in its stock price in October. With the other nine companies on the PWSI seeing a decline in their share price, the PWSI fell 5.3% in the month after dropping 5.9% in September. Educational Development Corp. had the biggest decline in its share price in October, with its stock falling 17.8%. The publisher, which has had rapid sales and earnings growth in the past 18 months, had a drop in earnings in its second quarter, as it invested heavily in the period to meet the expanding demand for its books. October marked the debut of LSC Communications, one of three companies spun out of R.R. Donnelley. LSC houses the former Donnelley’s printing operations, and its stock price fell 15.3% in its first month as a standalone company.
Winners
| Company | Sept. 30 | Oct. 31 | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| CBS | 54.93 | 51.03 | 3.0% |
Losers
| John Wiley | 51.61 | 51.60 | -0.06% |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scholastic | 39.36 | 38.25 | -2.8% |
| Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 13.41 | 12.65 | -5.6% |
| Amazon | 837.31 | 789.82 | -5.7% |
| Pearson | 9.79 | 9.23 | -5.7% |
| Barnes & Noble | 11.30 | 10.30 | -8.8% |
| News Corp | 13.98 | 11.12 | -13.3% |
| LSC Communications | 28.61 | 24.24 | -15.3% |
| Educational Dev. Corp. | 11.38 | 9.35 | -17.8% |
| Publishers Weekly Stock Index | 1,071.68 | 1,014.18 | -5.3 |
| Dow Jones Aver. | 18,308.15 | 18,142.42 | -0.9 |
Source: Publishers Weekly
