Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Tuesday with 26 securities changing hands with 11 advancing, 9 declining and 6 trading unchanged. The market index inched higher by 3.19 points to 3,093.37.
The volume traded amounted to 2,320,590 units valued at $10,336,084, compared to 1,303,888 units valued at $6,225,235 on Monday.
Trading ended with an average of 89,253 units for an average of $397,542 in contrast to 65,194 units for an average of $311,262 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 249,420 units valued at $1,528,275, in contrast to 258,319 units at an average of $1,591,093 previously. In contrast, 
July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed for Wednesday’s activity as 4 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 5 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, the volume of stocks changing hands and their last traded price are: Access Financial settled at $47 with 2,250 shares, Blue Power traded at $40 with 1,300 shares, CAC 2000 finished with a loss of 9 cents, at $7.86 with 4,068 stocks trading, Caribbean Cream traded at $6.50 with 56,600 stocks, Caribbean Producers finished 15 cents higher at $3.80 with 15,000 stock units exchanged. Consolidated Bakeries traded 29 cents higher at $2.30 with 4,500 stocks, Derrimon Trading closed 80 cents higher at $7.90 with 4,000 units, Dolphin Cove concluded trading with a loss of 20 cents, at $17.30 with 2,050 stocks, Express Catering settled 15 cents higher at $4.15 with 436,106 units, General Accident finished 22 cents higher at $2.82 with 67,500 stocks, Honey Bun closed 20 cents higher at $5 with 22,869 shares. 
ISP Finance settled with a loss of $1, at $19 with 400 units, Jamaican Teas concluded with a loss of 10 cents, at $4.90 with 90,678 shares, Jetcon Corporation ended with a loss of 21 cents, at $5 with 69,256 units, KLE Group closed 1 cent higher at $3.01 with 40,899 stocks, Knutsford Express concluded trading 34 cents higher at $14.40 with 6,770 stocks. Lasco Distributors traded at $7 with 186,808 shares, Lasco Financial settled with a loss of 20 cents, at $3.60 with 204,349 stock units, Lasco Manufacturing concluded market activity with a loss of 15 cents, at $4.45 with 45,888 shares, Main Event closed at $4.50 with 343,513 shares, Medical Disposables closed with a loss of $1.25, at $4.25 with 42,000 shares. Paramount Trading ended 10 cents higher at $2.70 with 10,500 stocks, Stationery and Office finished with a loss of 10 cents, at $4 with 655,536 stocks after trading at a low for the day of $3.50, Derrimon Trading preference share concluded trading 3 cents higher at $2.03 with 7,000 stocks, Eppley 9.5% preference share finished 5 cents higher at $7.25 with 500 units and Eppley 10% preference share traded at $6.60 with 250 stock units changing hands.
Trading jumps from Monday’s levels
Juniors inched higher on Monday
Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Monday with 20 securities changing hands, 9 advanced, 9 declined and 2 traded firm as 1,303,888 units valued at $6,225,235 changed hands compared to 3,210,758 units valued at $13,020,965 on Friday.
Trading ended with an average of 65,194 units for an average of $311,262 in contrast to 145,944 units for an average of $591,862 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 258,319 units valued at $1,591,093 compared to 269,679 units valued at $1,666,377 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of “NULL” units at “NULL” for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking mixed for Friday activity as 5 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are:
Access Financial finished trading 75 cents higher at $47 with 25,302 shares, AMG Packaging concluded trading with a loss of 3 cents to $3.45 with 25,441 stock units, Caribbean Cream ended 60 cents higher at $6.50 with 15,100 shares, Caribbean Producers finished trading with a loss of 15 cents, at $3.65 with 35,300 shares, Consolidated Bakeries settled with a loss of 29 cents, at $2.01 with 750 stock units, Dolphin Cove closed 10 cents higher at $17.50 with 1,475 stocks, Express Catering finished trading with a loss of 49 cents, at $4 with 38,177 stock units, Honey Bun settled with a loss of 70 cents, at $4.80 with 2,000 shares, Jamaican Teas settled 10 cents higher at $5 with 20,000 units, Jetcon Corporation closed 21 cents higher at $5.21 with 50,890 shares, KLE Group settled 25 cents higher at $3 with 50,323 units, Knutsford Express finished trading with a loss of 44 cents, at $14.06 with 2,200 units, Lasco Distributors closed at $7 with 40,685 stocks, Lasco Financial completed trading with a loss of 20 cents, at $3.80 with 11,350 shares, Lasco Manufacturing traded 1 cents higher at $4.60 with 25,677 units, Main Event settled at $4.50 with 100,745 units, Medical Disposables settled 50 cents higher at $5.50 with 5,200 stocks, Stationery and Office settled 10 cents higher at $4.10 with 796,273 shares, tTech closed with a loss of 95 cents, at $6.05 with 7,000 stocks and Derrimon Trading closed with a loss of 10 cents, at $2 with 50,000 shares.
89% of trades to 2 Lasco companies
Lasco Manufacturing & Lasco Distributors, combined, traded 89% shares on Thursday.
Two Lasco companies dominated trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday, accounting for 89 percent of the volume traded. Lasco Distributors accounted for 4.9 million units and the manufacturing sister company 7.35 million units.
Trading closed with 20 securities changing hands, 5 advanced, 5 declined and 7 traded firm with 13,753,371 units valued at $73,391,001 compared to 28,446,953 shares valued at $130,472,160 on Wednesday when Jamaican Teas traded over 25 million shares. The Junior Market Index rose 10.72 points to close at 3,123.26.
Trading ended with an average of 687,669 units for an average of $3,669,550 in contrast to 1,293,043 units for an average of $5,930,553 on Thursday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 344,257 units valued at $1,813,259 compared to 309,916 units valued at $1,627,630 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking stronger for Friday’s activity as 10 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
The volume of stocks changing hands on Thursday and the last traded prices are: Access Financial with 27,855 shares at $46.20, AMG Packaging with 3,100 shares at $3.50, Blue Power losing $1.50 in trading 550 shares at $40, CAC 2000 closing at $7.50 with 1,659 shares, Cargo Handlers closed at $11 with 550 shares, 
Consolidated Bakeries lost 11 cents and ended at $2.15 with 2,000 shares, Dolphin Cove closed at $17.50 with 100 shares, Express Catering closed at $5.20 with 78,372 shares, General Accident closed at $2.60 with 89,694 stock units, Jamaican Teas ended at $4.50 with 793,230 units, Jetcon Corporation closed at $5.41 with 168,148 shares, KLE Group closed at $2.10 with 168,011 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 2,000 shares, Lasco Distributors exchanged 4,911,909 shares at $6.70, Lasco Financial closed at $3.80 with 6,898 shares after falling 5 cents, Lasco Manufacturing rose 5 cents to $4.38 with 7,352,203 shares, Medical Disposables climbed 30 cents to $5.30 with 165 shares, Paramount Trading rose 9 cents to $2.94 with 10,000 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 122,333 units with the price rising 40 cents to $4.80 and tTech closed at $7 with 14,584 shares.
Junior market drops again
Jamaican Teas CEO, John Mahfood. The company traded 25m shares. on Wednesday.
Trading on the Junior Market of Jamaica Stock Exchange jumped on Wednesday with Jamaican Teas traded over 25 million shares as one large shareholder reorganized a portion of their holding. A total of 22 securities traded, 9 advanced 5 declined and 8 traded firm.
The Junior Market Index declined by 44.92 points to close at 3,112.54. Trading closed with 8 stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and 4 with lower offers. The Market closed with 28,446,953 shares valued at $130,472,160 trading, compared with 2,187,410 shares valued at $12,791,307 on the previous day.
At the close of the market, the volume of stocks changing hands on Wednesday and the last prices they traded at are: Access Financial with 3,630 shares at $46.20, AMG Packaging closing with 4,624 shares at $3.50, 
CAC 2000 ended 35 cents higher to $7.40 with 46,692 shares, Cargo Handlers gained 30 cents to close at $11 with 1,000 shares, Caribbean Cream closed 80 cents higher at $6.70 with 1,877 shares, Consolidated Bakeries lost 24 cents, to close at $2.26 with 221,280 shares, after the company posted a loss in the June quarter on Lower revenues than in 2016. Derrimon Trading fell 90 cents, to $7 with 800 shares, Dolphin Cove closed at $17.50 with 5,534 shares, Express Catering with a loss of 1 cents, closed at $5.20 with 311,836 shares, General Accident with a loss of 7 cents, closed at $2.60 with 615,796 shares, Honey Bun closed at $5 with 4,500 shares, 
Jamaican Teas moved 25 cents higher to $4.95 with 25,101,325 shares, Jetcon Corporation climbed 20 cents higher to $5.50 with 43,070 shares, KLE Group closed 10 cents higher at $2.10 with 738,400 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 5,538 shares, Lasco Distributors rose 15 cents while closing at $6.70 with 576,888 shares, Lasco Financial lost 15 cents, and closed at $3.85 with 20,000 shares, Lasco Manufacturing closed at $4.33 with 71,292 shares, Main Event gained 5 cents to $5 with 3,732 shares, Paramount Trading closed at $2.85 with 64,224 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 604,415 units with the price falling 59 cents to $4.40, and tTech rose 20 cents to $7 with 500 shares.
Securities trading jump on Tuesday
Trading in the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Tuesday with a number of stocks declining out pacing those rising. The volume and value of stocks traded declined compared to that on Monday while the market index closed lower by 38.26 points to 3,157.46.
The Market closed with 2,187,410 shares valued at $12,791,307 trading compared with 5,636,428 valued at $31,083,116 on the previous day. A total of 28 securities traded compared 22 on Monday as 17 stocks declined, 2 advanced and 9 traded firm.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are: 
Access Financial with 35,383 shares trading, closed with a loss of 30 cents to end at $46.20, AMG Packaging closed with 25,000 shares at $3.50, Blue Power had 5,450 units changing hands with fall of 50 cents to $41.50, Cargo Handlers with a loss of 30 cents, closed at $10.70 with 18,817 shares, Caribbean Cream closed with a loss of 84 cents, at $5.90 with 24,346 shares, Caribbean Producers ended 11 lower to $3.39 with 13,000 shares, Consolidated Bakeries lost 12 cents and closed at $2.50 with 1,627 shares, C2W Music closed at 38 cents with 18,237 shares, Derrimon Trading with a loss of 10 cents, closed at $7.90 with 12,065 shares, Dolphin Cove closed at $17.50 with 2,185 shares, Express Catering ended 20 cents higher at $5.30 with 319,964 shares, General Accident closed at $3.30 with 46,866 shares, Honey Bun closed 20 cents higher at $5 with 4,066 shares, Iron Rock closed at $3 with 38,000 shares, Jamaican Teas closed at $4.70 with 7,346 shares, 
Jetcon Corporation with a loss of 1 cent, closed at $5.30 with 176,320 shares, KLE Group closed at $2 with 23,000 shares, Key Insurance with a loss of 5 cents, closed at $3 with 5,000 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 9,850 shares, Lasco Distributors with a loss of 15 cents, closed at $6.55 with 149,100 shares, Lasco Financial traded at $4 with 54,927 shares, Lasco Manufacturing with a loss of 37 cents, closed at $4.33 with 41,292 shares, Main Event fell 5 cents, and closed at $4.95 with 117,083 shares, with a loss of 5 cents, Medical Disposables closed at $5 with 200,000 shares, after falling 50 cents, Paramount Trading eased 5 cents closed at 5 cents with 47,256 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 725,061 units with the price falling 41 cents to $4.99, Sweet River dipped 3 cents, to $3.52 with 60,169 shares and tTech dropped $1 and closed at $6.80 with 6,000 shares.
2nd buy out for Access Financial in a year
Junior market listed micro financier, Access Financial Services has acquired the loan portfolio, fixed assets and trade name of Micro Credit Limited, a release to the Jamaica Stock Exchange revealed. The acquisition is the second make by the company in just over a year.
The CEO of Access Financial, Marcus James, says “the acquisition is in keeping with the company’s overall expansion plan to grow its share of the local micro lending market. The business combination will see MCL continuing to serve the micro credit customers using its existing methodologies which have been proven both locally and internationally in that segment of the market resulting in above average portfolio performance. The alignment of the two entities will also result in efficiencies of scale.”
MCL was established in 2003 and has 6 branches islandwide. Christopher Williams, Proven Investments CEO stated earlier this month, that MCL was around the same size as Damark which were acquired by Access in May 2016 at a cost of $180 million which included, the loan portfolio of $148.7 million.
In 2015, Access acquired the loan portfolios of Asset Management Company and Appliance Traders for just over $500 million.
Berger & Scotia Group jump TOP 10
Scotiabank jumped out of TOP 10.
The main market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, moved forward on each day of the past week except for a fall on Thursday to sit close to the all-time high on Friday. Movement in the Junior Market was up and down but a few stocks traded at new highs during the week.
In the main market, IC Insider downgraded the earnings of Carreras to $9 after the company reported full year results, the stock jumped to a record $89 at the close of the week and is out of the top listing. Carreras exit allowed for Jamaica Broilers to return to the main market listing. Jetcon Corporation returns to the Junior Market list and Lasco Financial moves out of the TOP 10.
The week’s movement continue to be constrained by near term resistance levels which could be acting as short term restraint to a break out from current levels.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is 7.5 and 6.8 in the main market, these compare favourably with 13.7 for the overall main market and 13.4 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings. With several stocks trading below the average, the potential for more gains for the rest of 2017 seems positive, barring any major negative developments.
In the main market, decline in the prices of Seprod down to $30 and Sterling Investments to $15.50 moved them into the top list and replaced Berger Paints and Scotia Group that maintained their prices and are now some distance from the top list.
Recent TOP 10 listings that remain just below the top spots include Access Financial that hit a new record high close of $50 and Blue Power up to $55 at the close of the week.
Berger & Scotia Group drop TOP 10
Image courtesy of suphakit73/FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The two main markets of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, pulled back this past week as the volatility in the price of some stocks resulted in shifts in the position of some stocks in the TOP 10. Movements were not enough to change the Junior Market list, even as Caribbean Producers saw a 25 percent fall during the week with heavy volume, the stock enjoyed partial recovery by weekend.
This week’s pull back, seems to support the comment last week, “that both markets are trading close to recent resistance levels which could act as a short term restraint on upward movement.”
In the main market, decline in the prices of Seprod down to $30 and Sterling Investments to $15.50 moved them into the top list and replaced Berger Paints and Scotia Group that maintained their prices and are now some distance from the top list.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is 7.5 and 6.8 in the main market, these compare favourably with 13.7 for the main market and 13.4 for Juniors, based on 2017 estimated earnings. With several stocks trading below the average, the potential for more gains for the rest of 2017 seems positive, barring any major negative developments.
Recent TOP 10 listings remain just below the top spots with Access Financial, Jetcon Corporation, AMG Packaging, Dolphin Cove, Caribbean Cream and Blue Power sitting just below, with potential gains of more than 100 percent and in the main market, Grace Kennedy and Sagicor Group are just below the Top spots with good potential gains ahead.
The history of the Top stock performance indicates that, it takes a few months for most of the stocks to reach potential targeted prices as they tend not to be the stocks favoured by a large segment of investors, in the short term.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks now trade at an average discount of 44 percent to the Junior Market average, while those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving several stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.
At the close of the week, bid volumes for junior market stocks remained relatively low ranging from a high of 66,436 units at $5.15 for Lasco Manufacturing with an offer of 16,685 units at $5.20, Access with a bid of 35,425 at $42.50, Caribbean Producers with 34,300 units on the bid at $3.50, with 100,000 shares on offer at $3.80. Key Insurance closed with 15,213 units on the bid at $2.90 and 51,361 offered at $3.80 and Lasco Financial ended the week with a bid of $4.05 to buy 24,000 units with 47,888 units being offered for sale at $4.40.
Seprod shares dropped from $45.10 in February to $30 on Friday.
Caribbean Cement had a bid to buy 54,903 units at $28.50 and offers of 7,850 shares at $29.95. Carreras had just 1,233 units on the bid at $77 with 4,954 shares being offered at $80, JMMB Group’s has bids to buy 8,272 units at $19.80 with an offer to sell 6,224 shares at $20, Radio Jamaica bid ended trading at $1.68 to buy 883 units with 30,000 units on offer at $1.79 while Scotia Investments closed the week with 14,753 units on the bid to buy at $36.50 and 14,049 units offered for sale at $37.85. Interest in Seprod has fallen with only 250 units on the bid at $29.50 and selling of 95,352 units at $30, this is way off from the 52 weeks’ high of $45 the stock sold at late February this year.
Pulse & ISP exit TOP 10 with big gains
I$P Finance hits a new high of $35 on Wednesday up 1,650% since listing last year March.
The Jamaica Stock Exchange, two main markets hit new highs on several days over the past two weeks, with new records created during this past week as well. Both markets are trading close to recent resistance levels which could act as a short term restraint on upward movement.
With the average PE ratio of the markets trading around 13 based on 2017 estimated earnings and several stocks trading below, it just a matter of time for prices and the markets to move higher.
Recent market activity has been characterized by some sizable swings in prices for a number of stocks, these movements have pushed some stocks in and out of the top list. Most companies released results for the 2017 first quarter, in some cases IC Insider.com has revised the earnings based on the latest information contained in the results.
Earnings have been up graded for Caribbean Producers to 60 cents, for the 2018 fiscal year, based on the nine months’ performance to March, with the March quarter results pointing the way forward with an 8 percent increase in revenues and lower selling and administrative cost. 
In the main market, Berger Paints’ 2018 fiscal year earnings per share was up graded to $2, based on a strong finish to the 2017 results. Pulse Investments announcement of a 2 for 1 stock split to be considered by the board subject to approval at a meeting of shareholders, helped push the price up to $14.40 from $8.05 and out of the Top list after entering in November last year at $4. Jetcon Corporation entered at $6.09 on January 6 and is now at $15 and out of the top listing. Main Event entered at $2 and is now at $7.25 and ISP Finance entered at $8.50 and last traded at $28.
Recent TOP 10 listings remain just below the top spots with Access Financial, Jetcon, AMG Packaging, Dolphin Cove, Caribbean Cream and Blue Power sitting just below, with potential gains of more than 100 percent and in the main market, Grace Kennedy and Sagicor Group are just below the
Top spots with good potential gains ahead.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 Junior Market stocks continue to trade at an average discount of 43 percent to the Junior Market average, those in the main market are trading at a 49 percent discount, to the average of the market, leaving several stocks with room for growth for the rest of the year.
The history of the performance of the TOP STOCKS indicates that in most cases, it takes a few months for the stocks to reach potential targeted prices unless there are extraordinary developments such as stock splits.
Flash Back TOP 5
Berger Paints is one of IC Insider’s TOP 5 best performers from the initial list & exceeded the price target.
IC Insider.com first published its TOP 5 stocks, for the week ending September 9 last year. Looking back, the first set of selection is revealing.
There has been no losers in the list, 6 have more than doubled and two nearly doubled, that is a near 80 percent of strong performances. The Junior Market index is up 43 percent over the period and the All Jamaica Composite is up 29 percent for main market stocks.
First the disappointments, Grace Kennedy has hardly moved from where it entered at $41.45 while Caribbean Cement keeps on dancing up and down as the company’s management fails to properly communicate with investors as to the company’s performance, both past and future, the stock is up from the $26 but just. AMG Packaging while trading higher than the $19.20 it entered the list at, has not done much based on its underperforming profitability. The same cannot be said about 
Berger Paints, up from $5 to $20 on Friday, helped by strong profit increase. NCB Financial has almost doubled and still has much more room for growth. Barita Investments and JMMB Group have more than doubled in price over the period. Medical Disposables have moved to $6.50 and traded higher up from $3.55, Jetcon is up from $3.50 to $15.74, exceeding by far the $10 price tag projected, Paramount was projected to get to $37 based on the number of shares then issued, the price exceeded that level after the stock split 10 for 1, and sits just below the equivalent of $37, currently. Access Financial has more than doubled and came close recently to the IC Insider.com’s target of $48, having traded at $47.
