In a week with four changes to the ICTOP10 stock listings, the select list of stocks racked up some impressive gains to close out the past week and the ninth month of the year, following solid gains during the week for the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior and the Main Market. Junior Market rose more than 150 points and rose above the August close, while the Main Market index jumped 14,765 points for the week and the All Jamaica Index is up 12,156 points with both up modestly over the August close.
Top performing stock in the past week.
Coming into the Junior Market TOP10 are Lasco Financial, Dolphin Cove and Lasco Distributors, as Everything Fresh, General Accident and iCreate dropped out. General Accident replaced Caribbean Cement that fell out of the Main Market TOP10.
The Main Market closed the week with Caribbean Cement jumping 16 percent to close at $56.80, Guardian Holdings ran up 14 percent to close the week at $506.60, followed by a 10 percent increase in Jamaica Broilers to $34 and a 6 percent rise in JMMB Group to $29, all other price changes were 4 percent or less.
The Junior Market saw Everything Fresh jumping 28 percent to $1.75, followed by Caribbean Assurance Brokers leaping 20 percent to $3.38 as supply of the stock below this price has dried up and One-On-One Educational Services and General Accident are up a notable 15 percent to $1.15 and $6 respectively and finally, Image Plus rose 7 percent to $2.17.
Caribbean Producers reported full year earnings to June of J$0.90 per share, excluding one off item. ICInsider.com projects earnings of $1.70 for the current year, pushing the stock jumps to 6th position in the top 10 to number 7 on the list.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 4.9, well below the market average of 12.4. The Main Market TOP10 is projected to gain an average of 330 percent, by May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
A total of 15 of the most highly valued stocks representing 23 percent of the Main Market are priced with a PE of 15 to 109, with an average of 29 and 19 excluding the highest PE ratios, with a PE of 23 for the top half and 16 excluding the stocks with the over weighted valuations.
The PE of the Junior Market Top 10 sits at 5.7 just half of the market at 11.2. There are 13 stocks or 27 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 28, averaging 19 that are well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 15, possibly the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks currently and is projected to rise by 255 percent down from 288 percent last week by May 2024.
The divergence between the average PE of the Main and Junior Markets and the overall market valuation are important indicators of the level of likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market but not always. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings, allowing investors to focus on the most undervalued stocks and helping to remove emotions in selecting stocks for investments that often result in costly mistakes.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to the end of May 2024 and are ranked in order of potential gains, computed using projected earnings for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and result in weekly movements in and out of the lists. Revisions to earnings are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.
