The damage done to NCB Financial Group’s stock price by last year’s ill-fated public share issue continued unabated during the past week with the price hitting a multiyear low of $47.70 even as the group posted a solid 114 percent rise in profit for the first quarter to December to $2.6 billion up from $1.2 billion in 2023. The drop in price puts the stock back into the Main Market ICTOP10 and the ALL JSE TOP10.

The week closed with the Main Market index losing 1,770.19 points or 0.54 percent or points while the all Jamaica composite index declined by 0.75 percent or 2,847.1 points and the Junior Market lost 2.2 percent for a fall of 82.14 points. Market movements resulted in prices of just three stocks rising and five declining in the Junior Market ICTOP10 while the Main Market ICTOP10 ended with two gains and four losses.
In the Junior Market ICTOP10, Caribbean Assurance Brokers was the only stock ending the week with a notable gain, up 7 percent to $2.76. Iron Rock Insurance fell by 7 percent to $3.61, Access Financial fell 5 percent to $17.07 and Elite Diagnostic fell 4 percent to $1.62.
In the Main Market ICTOP10, Key Insurance rose 9 percent to close at $2.40 and VM Investments rose 4 percent to $2.47 and Berger Paints declined 8 percent to $7.15.
The All JSE ICTOP10, compiled from all listed ordinary stocks on the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended the week with NCB Financial replacing Caribbean Producers.
Dolphin Cove after a long absence returns to the Junior Market ICTOP10, fallowing a big drop in price during the week, while Iron Rock Insurance returns after a week’s abscence. Dropping out ot the Junior Market Top 10 are Limners and Bards and Cargo Handlers. In the Main Market ICTOP10, VM Investments dropped out, replaced by NCB, with the price at an appealing level for long term investments.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market ICTOP 10 sits at just 5.6, well below the market average of 15.7 and the Junior Market TOP10 stands at 7.8, more than half of the market, with an average of 13.1.
Based on the earnings estimates for 2024, the Main Market ICTOP10 is projected to gain an average of 272 percent by May 2025, providing better values than the Junior Market, projected to achieve a 170 percent increase for the same period.
In the Main Market ICTOP 10, there are 16 stocks with the highest values representing 31 percent of the Main Market, with PEs between 15 to 105, with an average of 31 and 23 excluding the highest PE ratios and a PE of 25 for the top half of the market with the highest values and 19 excluding the stocks with overweight values.
In the Junior Market IC TOP10, 16 stocks or 33 percent of the market have PEs ranging from 15 to 31 with an average of 19 and a PE of 18 for half of the market with the highest PEs.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market, but this is not always so. 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 will likely deliver the best returns on or around May 2025 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, resulting 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.