Company Dec. 30 Jan. 31 % Change
Winners outnumber losers by a two-to-one count in January, pushing up the Publishers Weekly Stock Index 4% in the month, compared to a 1.4% increase for the Dow. Better-than-expected holiday sales helped to boost Books-A-Million's stock price 18.2% in the month, the biggest gain of all companies on the PWSI. Speculation that Borders could be for sale, plus healthy holiday sales, gave the retailer's stock price a 13.6% bounce in January. Audible's announcement in early January that it would have a pre-tax loss in 2005 rather than earnings as previously forecast contributed to a 14.6% slide in its stock price in the month, the biggest decline on the PWSI.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winners
Books-A-Million 9.69 11.45 18.2%
Borders Group 21.67 24.62 13.6
Courier Corp. 34.34 38.67 12.6
Pearson 11.87 13.02 9.7
Scholastic 28.51 30.05 5.4
Losers
Audible 12.84 10.96 -14.6%
Amazon.com 47.15 44.82 -4.9
R. R. Donnelley 34.21 32.60 -4.7
Hasting Entertainment 5.48 5.35 -2.4
Barnes & Noble 42.67 42.42 -0.6
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 525.12 533.81 4.0%
Dow Jones Average 10,717.50 10,864.86 1.4