The combination of a weak stock market and investors’ disappointment regarding a fourth-quarter report from Amazon drove down the Publishers Weekly Stock Index 12.3% in January. While Amazon posted big gains in sales and earnings in its 2015 fourth quarter compared to 2014, investors were expecting better operating margins, and the company’s share price fell $48.35 (7.6%) the day after the quarterly report was released. An uncertain outlook for the education market contributed to an 18.1% decline in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s share price in the month. Pearson’s share price, however, benefitted from the company’s announcement that in response to lower demand for textbooks, it is cutting 4,000 jobs—about 10% of its global workforce. News of the restructuring led to a slight increase in its share price in January.

Winners
Company Dec. 31 Jan. 29 % Change
Pearson 10.78 7.47 4.2%
CBS 47.13 47.50 0.8
Barnes & Noble 8.71 8.77 0.7
Losers
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 21.78 17.84 -18.1
Amazon 675.89 587.00 -13.2
Scholastic 38.56 34.33 -10.9
John Wiley 45.03 41.80 -7.2
R.R. Donnelley 14.72 13.97 -5.3
Educational Dev. Corp. 11.07 10.53 -4.9
News Corp 13.96 13.35 -4.2
Publishers Weekly Stock Index 896.68 786.32 -12.3
Dow Jones Aver. 17,425.03 16,466.30 -5.5

Source: Publishers Weekly