Company Sept.30 Oct. 31 % Change
The lightly traded Educational Development Corp. was the only company on the Publishers Weekly Stock Index to escape the blood bath that took place on Wall Street in October. The PWSI plunged 19.1% last month after dropping 11% in September. While the sell-off was widespread, retailers suffered the most as a group. Borders lost nearly half of its ever-diminishing value in the month, while Books-A-Million's stock price dropped 37%. Even Amazon, which expects a solid fourth quarter, had its stock price finish October at $57.24, 41% off its 52-week high of $97.43. Simon & Schuster parent company CBS' stock price has dropped 65.5% from its 52-week high of $28.20. In the first 10 months of 2008,. the PWSI has fallen a total of 39%.
Source: Reed Business Information
Winner
Educational Dev. Corp. 4.10 4.45 8.5%
Losers
Borders Group 6.56 3.39 -48.3
Books-A-Million 5.00 3.15 -37.0
CBS 14.58 9.71 -33.4
R.R. Donnelley 24.53 16.57 -32.4
Scholastic 25.68 18.57 -27.7
Barnes & Noble 26.08 18.88 -27.6
Hastings Ent. 5.79 4.53 -21.8
Amazon 72.76 57.24 -21.3
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 364.11 294.58 -19.1
Dow Jones Aver. 10,850.66 9,325.01 -14.0