The Publishers Weekly Stock Index jumped 14.2% in July with the gain due entirely to the phenomenal performance of Amazon’s shares which added more than $100 in the month. Investors were cheered by the online giant’s results for the second quarter in which Amazon posted an unexpected profit led by a strong showing of its cloud services division. Excluding Amazon, the PWSI slipped 0.5%. Books-A-Million’s share price finished July with a 12.9% increase after the company’s board agreed to a $3.25 per share offer from the Anderson family to acquire all the BAM stock they do not own. R.R. Donnelley’s share price had a solid gain in July and on Aug. 4 the company announced that it planned to separate the conglomerate into three different companies. Also in early August, Barnes & Noble Education began trading on the New York Stock Exchange following the completion of its spinoff from Barnes & Noble. B&NE will join the PWSI next month.

Winners
Company Jun. 30 Jul. 31 % Change
Amazon 434.09 536.15 23.5%
Books-A-Million 2.86 3.23 12.9
R.R. Donnelley 17.43 17.55 6.9
Chegg 7.84 8.31 6.0
Houghton Mifflin 25.20 26.13 3.7
Scholastic 43.09 44.13 2.4
Losers
CBS 55.50 53.47 -3.6
John Wiley 54.37 53.01 -2.5
Pearson 18.96 18.66 -1.6
Publishers Weekly Stock Index 705.48 806.10 14.2
Dow Jones Aver. 17,617.77 17,689.86 0.4

Source: Publishers Weekly