The volume and value of stocks trading slipped modestly to close out market activity on Friday, from Thursday’s levels to close out another week with the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange falling over 58 points below the previous week’s close.
Market activity led to 33 stocks trading own from 36 on Thursday and ended, with 14 rising, 12 declining and seven closing unchanged.
At the close, the Junior Market Index dipped 9.07 points to settle at 3,189.83.
The PE Ratio, a measure used to compute appropriate stock values, averages 12.1 based on ICInsider.com’s earnings forecast for 2021-22.
Trading of 5,586,599 shares resulted in an exchange of $16,747,890 compared to 6,813,063 units at $17,345,293 on Thursday. Lumber Depot led trading with 29.8 percent of total volume after an exchange of 1.67 million shares, followed by Future Energy Source 11.9 percent, with 666,129 units and Caribbean Flavours 9.9 percent, with 554,064 shares.
Trading averaged 169,291 units at $507,512 versus 189,252 shares at $481,814 on Thursday and month to date an average of 203,845 units at $593,106, compared to 205,687 units at $597,669 on Thursday. August closed with an average of 464,471 units at $1,258,652.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows four stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close, Access Financial fell 25 cents to $18.75 in exchanging 1,100 shares, AMG Packaging popped 21 cents to $2.01, with 297,747 stock units crossing the market, Caribbean Assurance Brokers dropped 13 cents to $1.66 in an exchange of 21,335 units. Caribbean Cream climbed 30 cents to end at $6.60 with the swapping of 51,785 stocks, Caribbean Flavours rose 6 cents to $1.90, with 554,064 shares clearing the market, Elite Diagnostic shed 7 cents to $2.95, after 28,016 units crossed the market. Everything Fresh rose 11 cents to 97 cents in trading 44,082 stocks, Express Catering rallied 80 cents to $5.20 after exchanging 174,433 stock units, Fontana gained 35 cents to end at $6.60 trading 60,007 stocks. GWest Corporation popped 10 cents to 95 cents while trading 1,200 shares, Honey Bun spiked 29 cents to close at $7.90 with an exchange of 302,351 units, Indies Pharma advanced 19 cents to $3.39 in trading 21,865 stock units. Jamaican Teas lost 18 cents in closing at $3.52, trading 146,265 stock units, Jetcon Corporation spiked 22 cents to $1.27, with 337,712 stocks changing hands, Lasco Financial popped 17 cents to $3.15, in exchanging 20,014 shares. 
Lasco Manufacturing declined 32 cents to $4.51, with 32,907 units crossing the exchange, Lumber Depot climbed 19 cents to close at $2.99, after exchanging 1,666,179 stocks, Mailpac Group dropped 11 cents in closing at $3.54 in an exchange of 284,989 units. Main Event declined 57 cents to $3.63, with 45,098 stock units clearing the market, SSL Venture popped 6 cents to end at 69 cents in switching ownership of 997 shares and Stationery and Office Supplies shed 14 cents to end at $5.76, with 2,582 stock units changing hands.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Similar to Wednesday 36 stocks traded ending with 15 rising, 13 declining, with eight unchanged.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows two stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
Lasco Manufacturing increased 32 cents to $4.83 after exchanging 10,148 shares, Lumber Depot shed 14 cents to $2.80, with 1,021,891 stock units changing hands, Mailpac Group climbed 10 cents to $3.65 in an exchange of 110,396 stocks. Paramount Trading advanced 5 cents in closing at $1.10 after exchanging 20,075 units, SSL Venture fell 11 cents to close at 63 cents with an exchange of 907,939 shares and Tropical Battery popped 7 cents to $1.34 in exchanging 51,488 stock units.
The volume of stocks traded on Wednesday declined by 44 percent and the value 46 percent from Tuesday’s levels, with 6,071,422 shares traded for $19,121,644, down from 10,904,334 units at $35,164,246 on Tuesday. Future Energy Source led trading after taking 43.3 percent of the volume with 2.63 million shares, followed by Caribbean Flavours 9.6 percent, with 585,245 units and Derrimon Trading with 424,600 units for 7 percent market share.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows seven stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
Limners and Bards shed 20 cents to $3.45 in trading 196,098 units, Mailpac Group fell 13 cents to $3.55 after exchanging 181,170 stocks, Medical Disposables shed 50 cents to close at $4.50 after 88,417 stock units crossed the market. Paramount Trading declined 5 cents to $1.05 in switching ownership of 3,925 shares, SSL Venture gained 10 cents to end at 74 cents after exchanging 23,154 stocks and Stationery and Office Supplies lost 88 cents in closing at $5.90, with 3,282 stock units changing hands.
Market activity ended with 38 securities trading similar to Monday after 16 stocks rose, eight declined and 14 ended unchanged. The Junior Market Index rose 1.69 points to 3,218.89. The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate values for stocks, averages 12.1 based on ICInsider.com’s 2021-22 earnings forecast.
At the close, Access Financial lost $1.48 in ending at $20.01 with 22,295 shares clearing the market, Blue Power spiked 62 cents to $3.37 with the swapping of 5,947 units, CAC 2000 gained 60 cents in closing at $9.10 after trading 5,000 stock units. Cargo Handlers increased 10 cents to $7.40 in an exchange of 3,999 stocks, Caribbean Assurance Brokers popped 4 cents to $1.79 with an exchange of 14,957 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries shed 20 cents to $1.60, with 7,360 shares changing hands. Everything Fresh dropped 6 cents in closing at 90 cents in switching ownership of 128,541 units, Express Catering rallied 60 cents to $4.90 while exchanging 4,635 stocks, Fontana fell 5 cents to end at $6.10 after 298,234 shares changed hands. Honey Bun declined 20 cents to close at $8 in trading 58,950 stocks, Lasco Financial fell 15 cents to $3 after exchanging 35,012 stock units, Limners and Bards rose 35 cents in closing at $3.65, after 4,761,862 units crossed the exchange. 
Lumber Depot climbed 8 cents to $2.98, with 353,242 stock units crossing the market, Mailpac Group rose 8 cents to $3.68 after trading 77,351 stocks, Medical Disposables advanced 53 cents to $5 in an exchange of 100 units. Stationery and Office Supplies rose 88 cents in closing at $6.78 after an exchange of 6,569 shares and tTech lost 15 cents to end at $4.35 with 30,100 stock units clearing the market, but after trading at a 52 weeks’ intraday low of $3.60.
Markets keep bouncing around with no clear direction and could be weight down by a number of factors, including rising interest rates as Bank of Jamaica starts its tightening of the financial market, Barita Investments APO that will drain or divert funds from secondary trading of other stocks and the absence of any other major news that could move stock prices meaningfully. Against this background, there was little movement in and out of the ICTOP10 listings this past week.
Lumber Depot moved back into the ICTOP10 with the price pulling back under $3 and replaced tTech that enjoyed a price bounce from $4.20 last week to $4.50 this past week.
The top three Main Market stocks are, Berger Paints followed by JMMB Group and Guardian Holdings, with expected gains of 212 to 257 percent for the three, versus last weeks’ 202 to 290 percent.
The TOP 10 trades at a PE of 6.9, with a 42 percent discount to that market’s PE and the potential to rise 67 percent to March next year, based on an average PE of 20.
ICInsider.com ranks stocks to filter out the bigger winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potentially huge winners, helping to keep out emotional attachments to stocks that often result in costly mistakes being made.
Rising stocks beat out those declining by 15 to 11, with eight closing unchanged as 34 securities traded, up from 33 on Wednesday, with the volume and value of stocks trading slipping marginally on Thursday on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
Mailpac Group dropped 10 cents to $3.52 in switching ownership of 98,002 shares, Main Event dived 44 cents to $3.76 after exchanging 3,395 shares. Medical Disposables increased 33 cents to $4.94 after exchanging 4,030 stock units, Stationery and Office Supplies climbed 10 cents to $5.91 in an exchange of 4,000 stocks and tTech declined 42 cents to $4.20 after trading 2,731 stocks.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows five stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
Lumber Depot shed 11 cents to close at $3.07 after trading 4,795,471 units, Mailpac Group fell 15 cents to $3.51 with 193,419 stocks traded, Medical Disposables dipped 16 cents to $4.45 with 74,483 stock units changing hands. Paramount Trading declined 14 cents to $1.01 with a transfer of 212,785 units, SSL Venture lost 14 cents to close at 64 cents with investors switching ownership of 20,000 stocks and Stationery and Office Supplies spiked $1.27 to $7.02 with 3,000 units crossing the exchange.
Jetcon Corporation came into the TOP10 in the prior week and enjoyed a modest pickup from 91 cents and is overtaken by
Elsewhere, Future Energy Source, a former ICInsider.com BUY RATED stock that underwent a sharp pullback last week to $2.05 rose this past week to $2.51 as buying interest remains strong. Lumber Depot sits just below the ICTOP10 Junior Market stocks, after posting strong first quarter results that rose 140 percent over the 2020 first quarter, with ICInsider.com projecting earnings now at 35 cents per share, up from 27 cents previously, for the current year and the potential for the price to double into early 2022. Fontana reported increased earnings of $512 million, up from $277 million with earnings per share of 41 cents, just 4 cents below ICInsider.com forecast. Jamaica Broilers posted lower first quarter profit of $275 million, down from $383 million as the Jamaican and Haitian segments posted lower profits, but the USA segment enjoyed an 84 percent jump. 
Scotia Group reported profit of $2.8 billion an increase of 81 percent over the depressed 2020 third quarter and slightly more than the $2.7 billion generated in the April quarter, the group seems on target to earn around $3.50 per share for the year.
The TOP 10 trades at a PE of 6.6, with a 42 percent discount to that market’s PE and the potential to rise 77 percent to March next year, based on an average PE of 20.
ICTOP10 stocks are not intended to be a selection of the best stocks in the market but are most likely to be the best winners within a fifteen-month period. ICInsider.com ranks stocks to filter out the bigger winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potentially huge winners, helping to keep out emotional attachments to stocks that often result in costly mistakes being made. IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to March 2022 and ranked in order of potential gains, based on likely increase for each company, considering the earnings and PE ratios 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 per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Market activity led to 33 securities trading down from 38 on Thursday, with 13 rising, 11 declining and nine, closing unchanged.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows three stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
Lasco Distributors shed 23 cents to end at $3.77, with 105,089 units crossing the exchange, Lasco Manufacturing increased 14 cents to $4.96 after 5,704 stocks changed hands, Limners and Bards advanced 42 cents to $3.62, with 53,305 stocks crossing the market. Lumber Depot popped 2 cents to $3.18 while exchanging 2,440,430 units as a major shareholder seems to be offloading stocks and Main Event climbed 15 cents in closing at $4.20 in trading 11,789 stock units.
At the close, Access Financial jumped $1 to $21 in trading 178 shares, Blue Power popped 30 cents to $3.30 with an exchange of 14,930 stocks, Cargo Handlers dropped 50 cents to $7.65 with 16,948 stock units changing hands. Caribbean Assurance Brokers advanced 15 cents to $1.75 with 1,848 units traded after the stock traded at an intraday low of $1.52. Caribbean Cream gained 50 cents to close at $6.60 with a transfer of 66,547 shares, Caribbean Flavours slipped 8 cents to $1.90 with 121,050 stocks passing through the market. Consolidated Bakeries lost 10 cents to end at $1.69 with an exchange of 31,780 units, Derrimon Trading declined 5 cents to $2.25, with 189,209 shares changing hands, Dolphin Cove fell $1.20 to $9 with 35,498 stocks traded. Express Catering dropped 30 cents to $4.90 with a transfer of 3,902 units, Fontana advanced 10 cents to $6.10 with investor switching ownership of 109,548 stock units, Future Energy Source rose 8 cents to $2.50 with an exchange of 4,342,763 shares. General Accident slipped 8 cents to $5.37 with 250,000 units changing hands, GWest Corporation increased 6 cents to 99 cents with 27,930 stock units traded, Honey Bun gained 15 cents to close at $8.70 with a transfer of 4,220 shares. Jamaican Teas slipped 6 cents to $3.74 with 78,300 stocks passing through the market, Knutsford Express climbed 10 cents to $7 with an exchange of 2,006 units, Limners and Bards shed 45 cents to close at $3.20 with 254,789 stock units changing hands. 
Lumber Depot rose 10 cents to $3.16 with 24,379,081 shares traded, Main Event dropped 20 cents to $4.05 with a transfer of 2,777 units, Medical Disposables added 9 cents to $4.61 with a transfer of 31,223 stock units. Stationery and Office Supplies shed 75 cents to finish at $5.75 with investors switching ownership of 3,500 stocks, Tropical Battery lost 6 cents to end at $1.30 with 41,134 units changing hands and tTech fell 30 cents to $4.20 with 32,292 shares crossing the exchange.
