Led by a 12.3% increase in the stock price of Amazon, the Publishers Weekly Stock Index rose 4.6% in January, beating the 3.4% gain posted by the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Amazon, however, gave back a good part of the increase on February 1, the day after the company reported fourth-quarter revenue that fell short of expectations and issued a lackluster forecast for the first quarter. Courier’s stock price showed steady improvement in the last week of January after an earnings report showed strength in its printing segment. The country’s largest printer, however, posted the biggest loss in the month as Donnelley’s share price fell 21.3%. Barnes & Noble’s stock has been extremely volatile over the past 18 months and it was again in January, falling 16.6%. The stock prices of eight companies on the PWSI rose in the month, while prices fell at five. Books-A-Million’s stock price held even at $2.43.

Winners

Company Dec. 30 Jan. 31 % Change
Amazon 173.10 194.44 12.3%
Courier Corp. 11.75 12.37 5.3
CBS 27.14 28.48 4.9
Disney Corp. 37.50 38.90 3.7
Reed Elsevier 32.36 33.13 2.4

Losers

Company Dec. 30 Jan. 31 % Change
R.R. Donnelley 14.43 11.36 -21.3
Barnes & Noble 14.48 12.07 -16.6
Educational Dev. Corp. 5.01 4.90 -2.2
Pearson 18.87 18.56 -1.6
Scholastic 29.97 29.51 -1.5
Publishers Weekly
Stock Index 458.01 479.16 4.6
Dow Jones Aver. 12,217.56 12,632.91 3.4