Jamaica Producers former HQ
At the start of June, investors could pick up PanJam Investment shares at $45 and theoretically sell off the 31.56 percent holdings in Sagicor and own each PanJam share for just $1.
A few weeks on, the proposition is more expensive to achieve as it would cost $8 to achieve the same objective. Based on the lack supply of PanJam shares on the market it could become even more expensive in the weeks and months ahead.
While that anomaly exits, there is the wield situation in the local stock market where prices seem to be mismatched. Jamaica Producers (Producers) is selling a PE around of 25, well above the market average of 13 currently, but below Kingston Wharves (KWH) at 30. Jamaica Producers owns 50 percent of KWH with half of its market value being $33 billion. Producers is valued by the market at $19 billion well below its half of KWH. It would require a 74 percent price gain in Producers to equal the value of their holdings in KWH, assuming the latter remains around the current price of $46.55.
Kingston Wharves trades at 30 times 2018 earnings.
Another fascinating finding is that Junior Market listed Access Financial Services with market capitalization of $12.77 billion is almost twice the size of Mayberry Investments of just $7.8 billion. Mayberry formerly owned over 40 percent of Access before selling it off to Proven Investments.
Mismatching is also evident in the junior market with Cargo Handlers and Knutsford Express selling well above the market for more than a year, even after their prices have slowly declined over that period. Everything Fresh has now joined the group of highly valued stocks with PE in excess of 20 times 2018 earnings. With Treasury bill rates just under 2.5 percent and heading lower PE of 20 should now be common place, but when the market is selling well below then it raises some questions about how well investors are pricing stocks. A keen look at these high priced stocks with exception of KWH, shows that the prices have not gained in over a year with some have fallen, but others in the market have recorded strong gains. Some of these stocks seem poised to under perform the market for awhile, until time and increased earnings better align their values with the rest of the market.
