A raft of company results was unleased on the Jamaican Stock Exchange, resulting in changes to the IC TOP 10. Some companies have not yet recovered sufficiently from the fall out following the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year.
Fontana Waterloo Square Branch just after it was opened in October 2019.
Entering the Junior Markets Top10 are Access Financial and Fontana. Moving out are General Accident and Stationery and Office Supplies, both of which reported lower than expected profits for the September quarter and year to date. NCB Financial dropped out of the Main Market TOP 10 with full-year earnings coming in at $8.01 as the group stepped up the provisioning of expected credit losses. Eppley moved into the spot left vacant by NCB.
The Main Market closed the past week with notable gains in the market index while the Junior Market slipped modestly at the end of the week. Signals in the market continue to point to higher prices ahead. The Junior Market is currently signaling a big surge starting in December as short-term moving averages cross over longer-term ones to confirm a strong rally ahead.
The move in the Main Market continues the move gradually higher ahead of the year-end and is in keeping with bullish signs that points to more gains ahead.
This week’s focus: Fontana had a 21 percent increase in revenues for the quarter ending September to $1.11 billion, over $921 million in the 2019 corresponding quarter. Gross profit also increased 25 percent to $395 million above $316 million generated in the September 2019 quarter. Administrative selling and other expenses grew modestly by 4.5 percent from $296 million to $310 million, even as the company benefited from economies of scale with the Waterloo Square location. Net profits increased to $45 million, a 146 percent improvement from the $18 million recorded in the prior year, with foreign exchange losses adding $27 million to finance cost in the 2020 quarter. 
The company is on target to earn 50 cents per share for the current financial year ending June 2021.
The top three stocks in Junior Market remain as they were this past week, with the potential to gain between 233 to 465 percent by March 2021. Caribbean Producers heads the list, followed by Elite Diagnostic and Limber Depot. The focus on all three is on the 2021 fiscal year profit, projected to recover from reduced profit for the 2020 financial year. With expected gains of 168 to 238 percent, the top three Main Market stocks are now, Berger Paints followed by JMMB Group and Radio Jamaica in the third position.
The local stock market’s targeted average PE ratio is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results from now to the second quarter in 2021. The Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below the market average, indicating the potential gains ahead. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 15.8 and the Junior Market 13.2, based on ICInsider.com’s projected 2020-21 earnings. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market has been slowly rising, with better profit opportunities than the Main Market and narrowing the gap. 
The PE ratio for the Junior Market Top 10 stocks average a mere 7.1 at just 54 percent to the Junior Market average. The Main Market TOP 10 stocks trade at a PE of 8.7 or 55 percent of the PE of that market.
The average projected gain for the Junior Market IC TOP 10 stocks is 210 percent and 136 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings, indicating greater gains are likely in the Junior Market than the Main Market.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to March 2021 and ranked in order of potential gains, based on likely gain for each company, taking into account the earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and result in movements in and out of the lists weekly. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.
