After rising 8.4% in July, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index fell 2.8% in August as prices fell at 11 companies while increasing at just four. Still, the decline was less than the 4.3% drop posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The biggest increase in August was at Barnes & Noble, as investors bet that there is some party willing to pay a premium to acquire the bookseller, which put itself up for sale last month. Amazon's stock price had a solid gain in the quarter as the e-tailer continued to perform better than its physical competitors. A disappointing quarter made one of those competitors, Books-A-Million, the biggest loser in August; Borders's share price also had a steep decline in August, but dropped only slightly on September 1 after reporting another loss in the second quarter.

Winners
Company July 30 Aug. 31 % Change
Barnes & Noble 12.97 15.14 16.7%
Amazon 117.89 124.83 5.9
Educational Dev. Corp. 5.41 5.70 5.4
Hastings Ent. 7.25 7.39 1.9
Losers
Books-A-Million 6.48 5.41 -19.8
Borders Group 1.33 1.08 -18.8
Courier Corp. 15.93 13.10 -17.8
R.R. Donnelley 16.87 15.13 -10.3
McGraw-Hill 30.96 27.65 -9.9
John Wiley 39.38 35.59 -9.6
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 378.38 367.65 -2.8
Dow Jones Aver. 10,465.94 10,014.72 -4.3