Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Who Else Benefits from Amazon’s Success?

If Amazon (AMZN) is doing so well, with sales and earnings up substantially, a lot of books must be selling. Of course, Amazon sells watches, handbags, DVD’s, toys, tools, and toasters, but their mainstay is books. So if they are selling a lot of books, the publishers must be benefiting. Even the private equity guys are looking at publishers. Ripplewood Holdings L.L.C. just took over Reader's Digest in March. Here are some of the bigger book stocks.

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (JW-A) This Hoboken, New Jersey company, founded in 1807, publishes print and electronic business, education, and technology books. A couple of their famous publishing lines include the Dummies series and CliffNotes. The stock has a P/E 22, a price sales of 1.95, and a yield of 1.1%.

Courier Corp. (CRRC) One of the largest publishers in the United States of educational, religious, and consumer books. P/E 17.2, a PEG of 3.5,and a yield of 1.7%.

McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. (MHP) Publishes education, financial, and business books and information services. Also owns Standard & Poor’s, BusinessWeek magazine and J.D. Power and Associates, along with several other divisions. Their P/E is 25, PEG is 1.7, and a yield of 1.2%.

Pearson plc (PSO) This London-based company publishes business and educational textbooks in the United States and Canada. It also publishes The Financial Times newspapers and The Economist magazine. P/E 24, PEG 2.1, yield 3.1%.

Scholastic Corp. (SCHL) Publishes children’s and educational books worldwide. P/E 22.3, PEG 1.2, no dividend.

Thomson (TOC) Publishes legal, business, and educational books, textbooks, and information services. P/E 25.5, yield 2.2%.

These stocks can be tracked at Stockpickr.com.

Author does not own any of the above.

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