Junior Market regains some losses – Tuesday

The Junior Market Index recovers 20.28 points of the 32 it lost on Monday to close at 2,601.68 on Tuesday as trading activity remained close to Monday levels with 30 securities changing hands on both days.  
Trading resulted in an exchange of 5,099,168 units valued at $15,226,012 compared to 4,645,198 units valued at $13,350,189 on Monday. At the close of market activities, the prices of 14 securities advanced, ten declined and six remained unchanged. The PE ratio of the market ended at 10.1 times IC Insider.com projected 2020-21 earnings.
Limners and Bards stock price rose 40 cents as it controlled 24 percent of the overall market volume, with 1.2 million units traded on the heels of its recently announced 52 percent year-over-year increase in net profits for the six months ending April. Mailpac Group held 25 percent of the volume with 1.27 million shares traded and Lasco Distributors 592,000 shares for 12 percent market share rounded out the top three.
Trading concluded with an average of 169,972 units at $507,534 for each security traded, in contrast to 154,840 units for an average of $445,006 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 172,874 units at $420,020 and previously 173,151 units valued at $411,659. In contrast, May closed with an average of 150,274 units for $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows two stock ended with bids higher than its last selling prices and five with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial climbed $2.24 to settle at $24.75 at with a mere 50 shares changing hands, Blue Power dropped 26 cents in the exchange of 147,395 stock units to end at $3.60, Cargo Handlers rose 34 cents to $7.84 with a transfer of 655 units. Caribbean Assurance Brokers fell 4 cents in the swapping of 15,350 shares to finish at $2.20, Caribbean Cream closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 8 cents to end at $2.88, Caribbean Flavours fell 50 cents to close at $14 with an exchange of 2,000 shares. Caribbean Producers gained 1 cent to end at $2.37 with 279,690 stock units passing through the market, Everything Fresh dipped 2 cents to 80 cents with 49,258 units changing hands, Express Catering jumped 60 cents to $4.90 with 23,498 shares traded. Fontana gained 4 cents and exchanged 363,036 shares to close at $5.50, Fosrich shed 24 cents in trading 62,922 units to finish at $3.56, General Accident declined 20 cents to $5.30, trading 212,864 stock units. Honey Bun closed trading of 123,257 units and gained 35 cents to end at $5.45, iCreate moved 1 cent higher to 56 cents with an exchange of 47,797 units, Indies Pharma slipped 10 cents in trading 52,511 shares to finish at $2.90. Jamaican Teas ended at $4.49 after losing 1 cent and exchanging 272,114 stock units, Jetcon Corporation rose 22 cents to $1.32 with the swapping of 149,487 shares, Lasco Distributors closed 3 cents higher at $2.98, with 592,454 stock units trading. Lasco Financial climbed 3 cents and exchanged 2,000 shares to finish at $2.54, Lasco Manufacturing lost 11 cents in trading 70,050 units to settle at $3.89, Limners and Bards closed 40 cents higher at $2.90, with 1,224,292 stock units changing hands. Mailpac Group added 5 cents to end at $1.94 with 1,268,543 shares crossing the exchange, Main Event finished at $4.48 after rising 40 cents and trading 8,753 units and Medical Disposables ended with a loss of 1 cent at $6.69 with 800 stock units changing hands.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Junior Market gives back some gains

After closing higher on four of five days last week with the week closing with a gain of 42 points on Friday, the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange lost grounds on the first trading day of the week with the market Index declining 32.01 points to close at 2,581.40.
Trading on the finished with 30 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 4,645,198 units valued at $13,350,189 compared to 2,764,337 units valued at $7,742,462 on Friday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of nine securities advanced, 11 declined and nine remained unchanged.
An average of 154,840 shares for each security traded at $445,006 An average of 154,840 units stock traded on Monday at $445,006 each, in contrast to 86,386 units for an average of $241,952 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 173,151 units valued at $411,659 and previously 175,086 units valued at $408,136. May closed with an average of 150,274 units valued at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows two stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial declined $2.24 in trading of 4,500 units at $22.51, CAC 2000 lost $1.40 in exchanging 4,718 units at a 52 weeks’ closing low of $8, Cargo Handlers closed 50 cents higher at $7.50, trading 25,181 stock units. Caribbean Assurance Brokers rose 8 cents and ended with 5,133 stock units changing hands at $2.24, Caribbean Producers lost 4 cents in trading of 954,039 units at $2.36, Express Catering ended trading with 16,529 shares, after rising 10 cents to end at $4.30. Fontana dipped 51 cents in trading of 276,289 units at $5.46, Honey Bun ended market activity exchanging 201,000 shares to close at $5.10, after falling 23 cents. iCreate lost 3 cents in trading of 457,276 units at 55 cents, Indies Pharma closed trading of 957,799 units and gained 7 cents to end at $3, Jetcon Corporation closed trading of 106,326 units and gained 20 cents to end at $1.10. Lasco Distributors ended with a loss of 1 cent at $2.95 with 75,054 stock units changing hands, Lasco Financial ended market activity exchanging 7,000 shares to close at $2.51 after falling 13 cents, Lasco Manufacturing ended market activity exchanging 119,598 shares to close at $4, after falling 5 cents. Limners and Bards climbed 35 cents, exchanging 537,280 shares at $2.50. Mailpac Group gained 1 cent with 284,048 shares changing hands at $1.89, Main Event dipped 32cents in trading35,314 units at $4.08, Medical Disposables rose 1 cent to end at $6.70 trading 10,000 shares and SSL Venture declined by 4 cents to settle at 75 cents after 25,931 shares crossed the market.
In the Junior Market preference segment, CAC 2000 9.5% closed trading of 8,000 units and gained 16 cents to end at $1.16 and Derrimon Trading 9% exchanged 5,010 shares with a rise of 5 cents to end at 41.55.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

3 changes to BUY RATED Top 10

The Junior Main Market rose four out of five trading days this past week, with the market gaining 2.5 percent while the Main Market lost just under 2,000 points for a loss of half of one percent.

Scotia Group this week’s featured stock

In the last week of May, the Junior Market index gained 3 percent in continuation of a 4 percent rise in the prior week while the Main Market rose 2 percent, with less than a percentage point rise for the previous week.
IC Insider.com TOP 10 weekly reports indicated for some time that the best buys in the Jamaican markets are in the Junior Market, investors by their actions since the market dived in March are confirming this by pushing the Junior Market at a faster pace than the Main Market.
For the Junior Market TOP 10, CAC 2000 and KLE Group dropped out, with full-year earnings, downgraded, with the loss incurred for the six months for CAC and KLE struggling from lack of business due to coronavirus, with little possibility of either of them making up grounds to put them back in TOP 10 contention, for 2020. Elite Diagnostic price climbed from $3.74 to $4.17 and moved out of the group. Replacing the stocks dropping out of the TOP 10 are Caribbean Assurance Brokers, Jamaican Teas and Medical Disposables. There was no change to the TOP 10 Main Market this past week.
This week’s focus: Scotia Group released half-year results to April this past week, but investors are concerned about the impact of bad loans on the profits of banks and they may be overreacting to it. Scotia Group reported a net income of $4.02 billion for the six months to April compared to $5.62 billion for the corresponding period last year. Excluding additional loan provisions of $1.11 billion due to the revision of expected credit losses, net income would be down $488 million or 8.7 percent. When the added loan provision and reduced fee income are taken into consideration, the second quarter, the results would have beaten the pretax profit in 2019, by a small margin.
The group loan portfolio increased $34 billion or 18 percent year over year, primarily due to 28 percent growth in commercial loans, with delinquency of only 0.8 percent. The retail loan portfolio increased 11 percent over the prior year and included a 14 percent increase in mortgages. The growth in loans is the most critical factor in determining likely gains in profit going forward.
The past week closed with the three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 260 to 692 percent by March 2021 are Caribbean Producers, followed by Lasco Financial and Lumber Depot. In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica continues to lead, followed by Berger Paints and JMMB Group, with expected gains of 165 to 233 percent.
The targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after the second quarter of 2020 up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 14 and the Junior Market at just 9.3, based on current 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5.7 at just 61 percent to the average of the overall Junior Market. The Main Market TOP 10 stocks trade at 8.6 or 62 percent of the PE of the overall market.
The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 283 percent, for the Junior Market and 140 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings, an indication that there is the potential to make greater gains in the Junior Market than in the Main Market.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver some of the best returns up to March 2021. Expected gains are computed based on earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. The ranking of stocks is in order of likely increases, with the highest-ranked, being the most attractive. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. 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.

Solid Junior market bounce

Add your HTML code here...

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange bounced on Friday with the market index rising the most since May 28 when it put on a 48 points rally. The market index closed the week with a rise of 41.62 points to close at 2,613.41, the highest level since the start of June. 
At the close of market activities, the prices of 12 securities advanced, eight declined and 11 remained unchanged. The PE ratio of the market ended at 9.8 times IC Insider.com projected 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended, with 32 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,764,337 units at $7,742,462, down from 5,176,803 units for $13,735,351 on Thursday.
The average stock trading on Friday at 86,386 units at $241,952 was well below recent levels and around half the amounts in April and contrast with an average of 161,775 units for $429,230 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 175,086 units valued at $408,136 and previously 186,349 units valued at $429,239. Trading in May closed with an average of 150,274 units at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows two stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped $2.24 to settle at $24.75 with just 100 shares changing hands, AMG Packaging ended trading with 100 shares, after rising 11 cents to settle at $1.70, Cargo Handlers gained 49 cents in exchanging 300 units at $7. Caribbean Flavours climbed $2.80 to settle at $14.50 with 22,728 shares trading, Dolphin Cove lost 47 cents in trading of 8,148 units at $7.80. Express Catering fell by 10 cents trading 48,700 units at $4.20, Fontana lost 2cents trading 56,326 units at $5.97, Fosrich closed 38 cents higher at $3.80, with an exchange of 1,050 stock units, General Accident declined by 5cents to settle at $5.50 exchanging 21,536 shares. iCreate ended trading 565,798 shares, after rising 4 cents to close at 58 cents, Indies Pharma closed 4 cents higher at $2.93, with 188,296 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas shed 20cents in switching ownership of 506,540 shares at $4.50. Knutsford Express closed 11 cents higher at $8.11, with 3,861 stock units changing hands, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 598 units and gained 6 cents to end at $2.96, Lasco Financial ended with gains of 14 cents in exchanging 12,256 shares and closed at $2.64. Lasco Manufacturing closed trading of 200,000 shares and gained 10 cents to end at $4.05. Limners and Bards shed 5 cents in trading of 4,500 units at $2.15, Mailpac Group gained 2 cents trading 402,322 shares at $1.88, Medical Disposables fell 11 cents in trading of 46,152 units at $6.69 and Stationery and Office Supplies closed with a loss of 2 cents at $6in swapping 74,999 shares.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise

 

 

Winning day for Junior Market – Thursday

The Junior Market scraped out some gains on Thursday as the index advanced 15.44 points to close at 2,571.79 as trading picked up, with 32 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 5,176,803 units at $13,735,350 compared to 4,550,105 units for $10,318,665 from 27 stocks on Wednesday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of nine securities advanced, 14 declined and 10 remained unchanged and the PE ratio ended at 9.6 times 2020-21 earnings.
The average stock trading on Thursday was 161,775 units for $429,230 in contrast to 168,522 units for an average of $382,173 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 186,349 units valued at $429,239 and previously 189,924 units for $429,240. In contrast, May closed with an average of 150,274 units valued at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows four stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging declined by 11 cents to settle at $1.59 with 1,850 shares changing hands, Blue Power rose 26 cents and traded 2,327 shares to end at $3.86, Caribbean Assurance fell 9 cents to $2.15 with an exchange of 45,000 units. Derrimon Trading shed 14 cents in swapping 4,500 units to close at $2.45, Dolphin Cove gained 2 cents and exchanged 2,165 shares to settle at $8.27, Fontana slipped 1 cent lower to $5.99 with 245,999 stock units traded. Fosrich closed with a loss of 38 cents at $3.42, swapping 8,938 shares, General Accident fell 14 cents and exchanged 76,302 shares to finish at $5.55, Honey Bun declined by 12 cents in trading 11,712 units to end at $5.33. iCreate dipped 3 cents to 54 cents in swapping 32,288 units, Indies Pharma exchanged 1,653,278 shares, rising 59 cents after the company reported a 92 percent rise in the second quarter, to end at $2.89, Jamaican Teas closed at $4.70 after trading 183,433 shares and falling 19 cents. Knutsford Express jumped 99 cents to end at $8 with 1,173 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors fell 7 cents in the trading of 152,900 units to finish at $2.90, Lasco Financial slipped 1 cent to $2.50 with 183,709 shares exchanged. Lasco Manufacturing closed 10 cents higher at $3.95, with 468,332 stock units swapped, Limners and Bards ended at $2.20 after rising 23 cents and trading 138,733 shares, Mailpac Group gained 1 cent to end at $1.86 with 308,449 shares changing hands. Main Event closed 5 cents higher at $4.40, with 1,136 stock units traded, Medical Disposables fell 9 cents in the exchange of 9,173 units at $6.80, Paramount Trading shed 2 cents and swapped 321,870 units to settle at $1.98 and tTech jumped 41 cents to $4.70 with 10,597 units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Junior Market lost grounds – Wednesday

The Junior Market lost momentum on Wednesday as the index declined by 19.52 points to close at 2,556.35. Market activities ended with the prices of 12 securities advancing, twelve declining and prices of three remaining unchanged.
Trading concluded with 27 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 4,550,105 units valued at $10,318,665 versus to 3,765,461 units costing $7,141,689 from 29 stocks on Tuesday. The PE ratio of the market ended at 9.5 times 2020-21 earnings.
The average stock trading amounted to 168,522 units at $382,173 in contrast to an average of 129,843 units for $246,265 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 189,924 units for $429,240, previously 192,917 units valued at $435,825. Trading in May closed with an average of 150,274 units valued at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close of trading, Cargo Handlers declined 4 cents in the exchanging a mere 522 shares to settle at $6.51, Caribbean Assurance Brokers fell 4 cents to $2.24, with an exchange of 2,000 units, Caribbean Flavours ended with a loss of 30 cents at $11.70 with 200 shares changing hands. Caribbean Producers exchanged 1,086,459 stock units to close 5 cents higher at $2.40, Derrimon Trading climbed 19 cents to $2.59 with 94,870 units trading, Elite Diagnostic ended at $4.17 after rising 17 cents and swapping 31,990 shares. Everything Fresh closed 10 cents higher at 82 cents, with 109,527 stock units changing hands, Express Catering lost 8 cents in exchanging 29,463 shares to finish at $4.30, Fontana added 10 cents and exchanged 16,442 shares to close at $6. Fosrich climbed37 cents to $3.80 with 14,720 shares crossing the market,  General Accident inched 4 cents higher, trading 47,327 stock units to settle at $5.69, Honey Bun closed gained 24 cents to close at $5.45 after exchanging 70,204 stock units. iCreate moved up 3 cents to 57 cents with 338,046 units changing hands, Jamaican Teas slipped 1 cent to close at $4.89 with 3,427 shares traded, Knutsford Express shed $1.29 and exchanged 30,140 shares to close at $7.01. Lasco Distributors fell 3 cents in the swapping of 1,237,690 units to settle at $2.97, Lasco Financial lost 12 cents trading 19,000 shares to close at $2.51, Lasco Manufacturing slipped 4 cents to $3.85 with an exchange of 27,829 stock units. Limners and Bards gained 3 cents and traded 12,994 units to end at $1.97, Lumber Depot slipped 1 cent to $1.11 with 97,749 stock units changing hands, Mailpac Group lost 3 cents in trading 624,718 shares to close at $1.85. Medical Disposables ended at $6.89 after rising 14 cents, with 10,000 shares changing hands, Paramount Trading added 1 cent and swapped 4,784 shares to settle at $2 and Stationery and Office Supplies lost 18 cents to close at $6.02 with 14,783 shares crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

More gains for Junior Market

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange inched higher for a second day at the close of the market on Tuesday, with the market index advancing by 15.31 points to 2,575.87 as advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones almost two to one.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer. The reading suggests that the market prices should close mostly up on Wednesday.
By the close of market activities, 29 securities changed hands, resulting in an exchange of 3,765,461 units valued at $7,141,689 compared to 12,747,813 units valued at $17,475,914 from 32 securities on Monday.
The prices of 13 securities advanced, eight declined and eight remained unchanged. The PE ratio of the market ended at 9.5 times 2020-21 earnings.
The average trade for the day was 129,843 units at $246,265, in contrast to 398,369 units for an average of $546,122 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 192,917 units valued at $435,825 and previously 204,071 units valued at $469,345. In contrast, May closed with an average of 150,274 units valued at $491,077 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, Cargo Handlers traded 8,678 units and gained 4 cents to end at $6.55, Caribbean Flavours climbed $1.90 to $12 with 7,991 shares changing hands, Caribbean Producers declined 5 cents in the exchange of 239,156 units to settle at $2.35. Derrimon Trading closed 20 cents higher at $2.40 with 199,000 stock units changing hands, Dolphin Cove jumped 75 cents and exchanged 6,037 shares to finish at $8.25, Elite Diagnostic ended at $4 after adding 15 cents and with 113,646 stock units crossing the exchange. Everything Fresh slipped 6 cents in the trading of 39,188 units to close at 72 cents, Fontana lost 24 cents to end at $5.90 with 139,298 units changing hands, Fosrich gained 2 cents and exchanged 12,337 shares to finish at $3.43. General Accident closed trading of 21,778 units and gained 28 cents to end at $5.65, Honey Bun fell 24 cents in the swapping of 68,316 units to settle at $5.21, Indies Pharma exchanged 123,141 shares after rising 9 cents to end at $2.30. Iron Rock Insurance closed at $3.20 after exchanging 100 units and falling 50 cents, Jamaican Teas finished 1 cent higher at $4.90, with 3,200 stock units trading, Lasco Distributors exchanged 238,000 stock units and gained 2 cents to settle at $3. Lasco Financial climbed 8 cents in the swapping of 59,840 shares to finish at $2.63, Lasco Manufacturing ended the day with 23,943 shares traded after rising 4 cents to $3.89, Limners and Bards shed 9 cents to close at $1.94 with 7,835 changing hands. Lumber Depot gained 2 cents to end at $1.12, trading 135,250 stock units, Mailpac Group swapped 189,900 shares to close at $1.88 after falling 2 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies fell 6 cents to $6.20 with 25,881 units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Up day for Junior Market

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended five days of decline with a rise in the index on Monday with the Market Index rising 11.49 points to close at 2,560.56.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 13 securities advanced, 14 declined and five remained unchanged. The PE ratio of the market ended at 9.2 times 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended with 32 securities changing hands, compared 26 on Friday and resulted in an exchange of 12,747,813 units valued at $17,475,915 compared to 1,400,627 units valued at a mere $3,764,005 on Friday.
The average trade on Monday was 398,369 units at $546,122, in contrast to 53,870 units, for an average of $144,769 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 204,071 units valued at $469,345 and previously 156,968 units valued at $450,732. Trading in May closed with an average of 150,274 units valued at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows three stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and none with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial dropped $2.09 trading 18,091 units in closing at $22.51, AMG Packaging gained 14 cents and exchanged 2,864 shares at $1.70, Blue Power closed with a loss of 26 cents at $3.60 after swapping 9,390 shares. CAC 2000 rose 10 cents and exchanged 1,000 shares at $9.40, Derrimon Trading lost 39 cents trading of 70,316 units at $2.20, Dolphin Cove dropped 80 cents exchanging 8,547 shares to close at $7.50. Elite Diagnostic gained 11 cents with 85,292 shares changing hands at $3.85, Everything Fresh declined by 2 cents in trading of 52,869 units at 78 cents, Express Catering closed trading of 2,789 units and gained 3 cents to end at $4.38. Fontana rose 14 cents exchanging 122,435 shares, at $6.14, Fosrich closed with a loss of 48 cents at $3.41in  swapping 11,141 shares, General Accident rose 7 cents with 19,637 shares changing hands at $5.37, Honey Bun gained 15 cents trading of 133,905 units to end at $5.45. Indies Pharma declined by 5 cents to settle at $2.21 after investors switched ownership of  32,151 units, Jamaican Teas ended trading with 57,832 shares, after rising 36 cents to close at $4.89, Jetcon Corporation closed 5 cents higher at 90 cents, with 355 stock units changing hands. Knutsford Express climbed 30 cents and exchanged 950 shares at $8.30, Lasco Distributors ended trading with 152,436 shares, after rising 7 cents to end at $2.98, Lasco Financial shed 10 cents to settle at $2.55 after exchanging 168,566 shares, Lasco Manufacturing lost 5 cents trading 16,100 units at $3.85. Limners and Bards closed, with a loss of 2 cents at $2.03 in swapping 87,179 shares, Lumber Depot lost 3cents with 11,147,733 shares crossing the market to close at $1.10, Mailpac Group closed trading of 68,279 units and gained 3 cents to end at $1.90. Main Event stock fell by 12 cents in exchanging 2,000 units at $4.35, shares of Medical Disposables declined by 13 cents to settle at $6.75 with 39,870 units changing hands, Paramount Trading gained 1 cent to end at $1.99, trading 1,000 shares and SSL Venture shed 14 cents in transferring 16,674 units at 79 cents.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

New changes to BUY RATED stocks

Junior Main Market stocks pulled back this week, resulting in few changes to the IC Insider.com TOP 10 lists as the market may be caught in the usual early summer of consolidation ahead of the release of second-quarter results.
For Junior Market TOP 10, General Accident pulled back to an attractive level of $5.32 and re-entered the TOP 10 at the expenses of Jamaican Teas. Sagicor Group moved back into the TOP 10 Main Market with Victoria Mutual Investments dropping out.
The week closed with the three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 356 to 692 percent by March 2021 as Caribbean Producers, followed by KLE Group and Lasco Financial. In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica continues to lead, followed by Berger Paints and JMMB Group with projected gains of 165 to 210 percent.
The targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after the second quarter of 2020 up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 14.2 and the Junior Market at just 9.5, based on current 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5.1 at 53 percent to the average of the overall Junior Market. The Main Market TOP 10 stocks trade at 8.6 or 60 percent of the PE of the market.
The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 327 percent, for the Junior Market and 139 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings, an indication that there is greater potential to make greater gains in the Junior Market than in the Main Market.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver some of the best returns up to March 2021. Expected gains are based on projected earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. The ranking of stocks is in order of likely increases, with the highest-ranked, being the most attractive. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. 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.

 

Junior Market drops 84 points this week

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Friday resulted in another day of decline of the Market Index, for the six consecutive days of fall and shedding 83.90 points for the week.
At the close, the Junior Market Index declined 5.69 points to close at 2,549.07 with 26 securities changing hands, in an exchange of 1,400,627 units for $3,764,005 compared to 2,120,809 units at $5,882,853 from the trading of 33 securities on Thursday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 12 securities advanced, eight declined and six remained unchanged. The PE ratio of the market ended at 9.4 times 2020-21 earnings.
The average trade for the day was 53,870 units at $144,769, in contrast to 64,267 units for an average of $178,268 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 156,968 units valued at $450,732 and previously 312,432 units at $866,497. Trading in May closed with an average of 150,274 units at $491,077 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Blue Power rose 22 cents to end at $3.86, with 20,000 stock units changing hands, Cargo Handlers closed with an exchange of 10,000 units and gained 30 cents to end at $6.51, Caribbean Producers ended trading with 75,841 shares, after rising 2 cents to close at $2.40. Consolidated Bakeries shed 13 cents in trading 100 units at $1.51, Dolphin Cove climbed 50 cents and exchanged 433 shares at $8.30, Express Catering declined by 5 cents to settle at $4.35, after trading 11,507 units. Fontana closed 1 cent higher at $6, with the trading of 54,638 stock units, General Accident lost 11 cents in exchanging 8,500 shares to close at $5.30, Honey Bun declined by 25 cents trading 10,742 units to settle at $5.30, iCreate ended trading with 104,081 shares, after rising 3 cents to end at 54 cents. Jamaican Teas declined by 45 cents trading of 171,503 units at $4.53, Knutsford Express shed 90 cents to settle at $8 in exchanging 872 units, Lasco Financial closed trading of 10,101 units and gained 24 cents to end at $2.65. Lasco Manufacturing declined by 12 cents in exchanging 117,442 shares to close at $3.90, Limners and Bards closed 5 cents higher at $2.05, with 227,798 stock units changing hands, Lumber Depot added 2 cents to close at $1.13, with 121,357 stock units trading. Mailpac Group ended trading with 127,888 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.87, Medical Disposables closed trading with 7,156 shares, after gaining 12 cents to end at $6.88 and Paramount Trading ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.98 with 150,500 stock units changing hands.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.