The Yonder 40 — DY’s index of 40 publicly traded companies chosen to reflect the rural economy — continues to outpace the other major stock indexes. The 40 rose last week a fraction while both the Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 fell.
No major news moved the Yonder 40. Meat producers continued to have their troubles. Smithfield foods dropped nearly 17% and Tyson was off 9%. Both companies have been pressed by higher feed costs.
Rural retailers, meanwhile, had a good week. Stage Stores, Tractor Supply, Family Dollar and Cato Corp. all showed strong stock gains.
The Yonder 40 broke away from the S&P and Dow in the Spring, riding higher commodity prices that lifted oil, gas, coal and farm supply stocks.
Below is the full accounting of the Yonder 40 for the week ending August 29, 2008:
| Yonder 40 | Ticker | Price August 31 | Price Change 8/22 to 8/29 | Percent Change 8/22 to 8/29 |
| Alico Inc. | ALCO | $43.15 | -$1.38 | -3.1% |
| Andersons Inc. | ANDE | $44.96 | $0.29 | 0.6% |
| Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. | BNI | $107.40 | $3.93 | 3.8% |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRKB | $3,902.00 | $32.00 | 0.8% |
| Bassett Furniture | BSET | $10.28 | -$0.23 | -2.2% |
| Peabody Energy Corp. | BTU | $62.95 | -$1.56 | -2.4% |
| Cabela’s Inc. | CAB | $12.25 | $0.26 | 2.2% |
| ConAgra Foods Inc. | CAG | $21.27 | -$0.83 | -3.8% |
| Cato Corp. Cl A | CTR | $17.61 | $0.66 | 3.9% |
| Citizens Communications | CZN | $11.68 | $0.00 | 0.0% |
| Deere & Co. | DE | $70.57 | $3.03 | 4.5% |
| Dean Foods Co. | DF | $25.17 | $0.16 | 0.6% |
| DIRECTV Group | DTV | $28.21 | -$0.43 | -1.5% |
| Family Dollar Stores Inc. | FDO | $24.92 | $0.36 | 1.5% |
| Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. | FLE | $2.14 | -$0.14 | -6.1% |
| FairPoint Communications | FRP | $8.85 | $0.28 | 3.3% |
| Gaylord Entertainment Co. | GET | $34.65 | $1.87 | 5.7% |
| Hormel Foods | HRL | $35.66 | $0.10 | 0.3% |
| International Speedway Corp. | ISCA | $39.67 | $1.82 | 4.8% |
| Lee Enterprises | LEE | $3.75 | -$0.12 | -3.1% |
| Mohawk Industries Inc. | MHK | $69.05 | -$0.04 | -0.1% |
| Monsanto Co. | MON | $114.25 | -$3.82 | -3.2% |
| Mine Safety Appliances Co. | MSA | $36.33 | -$0.67 | -1.8% |
| Southwest Bancorp | OKSB | $16.84 | $0.14 | 0.8% |
| Plum Creek Timber REIT | PCL | $49.62 | $2.38 | 5.0% |
| Penn Virginia Corp. | PVA | $66.18 | $2.84 | 4.5% |
| Ralcorp Holdings | RAH | $61.40 | $1.44 | 2.4% |
| Regions Financial Corp. | RF | $9.27 | $0.79 | 9.3% |
| Sturm Ruger & Co. | RGR | $7.30 | $0.13 | 1.8% |
| Smithfield Foods | SFD | $20.11 | -$4.04 | -16.7% |
| Skywest Inc. | SKYW | $17.09 | -$0.03 | -0.2% |
| Southern Co. | SO | $37.51 | -$0.28 | -0.7% |
| Stage Stores Inc. | SSI | $15.92 | $0.43 | 2.8% |
| Tractor Supply Co. | TSCO | $42.62 | $0.87 | 2.1% |
| Tyson Foods | TSN | $14.52 | -$1.49 | -9.3% |
| UST Inc. | UST | $53.59 | -$0.39 | -0.7% |
| Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. | WDR | $32.20 | $0.88 | 2.8% |
| Walter Industries | WLT | $93.80 | -$0.09 | -0.1% |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | $59.07 | -$0.37 | -0.6% |
| Cimarex Energy | XEC | $55.54 | $2.53 | 4.8% |
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
