Surging trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday sent the volume of stocks trading up by 88 percent with a value 108 percent higher than on Friday after 47 securities changed hands compared with 45 on Friday and ended with 13 rising, 30 declining and 4 closing unchanged.
A total of 12,032,460 shares were exchanged for $34,094,366 compared to 6,415,297 units at $16,382,248 on Friday.
Trading averaged 256,010 shares at $725,412 compared with 142,562 units at $364,050 on Friday, with the month to date averaging 187,473 units at $495,788 compared to 163,960 stock units at $417,012 on the pior trading day. January closed with an average of 239,755 units at $646,375.
MFS Capital Partners led trading with 5.81 million shares for 48.3 percent of total volume followed by JFP Ltd with 1.02 million units for 8.5 percent of the day’s trade and Image Plus Consultants with 826,181 units for 6.9 percent market share.
At the close, the Junior Market Index shed 35.50 points to close at 3,904.97.
The PE Ratio, a measure of computing appropriate stock values, averages 12.6. The PE ratios of Junior Market stocks include ICInsider.com projected earnings for the financial years ending between November 2022 and August 2023.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows three stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close, Access Financial fell $2.01 in closing at $21 after a transfer of 25,000 shares, Cargo Handlers dipped 38 cents to close at $13 in trading 149 stocks, Caribbean Assurance Brokers gained 10 cents to end at $2.14, with 8,669 units clearing the market. Caribbean Cream dipped 24 cents to settle at $3.25 with investors transferring 5,932 stock units, Consolidated Bakeries lost 11 cents after ending at $2 with 569 stocks changing hands, Fontana shed 30 cents to close at $8.70 with the swapping of 7,751 shares. Fosrich lost 9 cents to end at $3.59 as investors traded 600,846 stock units, Future Energy Source shed 14 cents in ending at $4.63 with an exchange of 315,068 units, Honey Bun rallied 23 cents in closing at $7.30 in switching ownership of 1,028 units. iCreate lost 15 cents to end at $2 with a transfer of 331,953 shares, Iron Rock Insurance fell 33 cents to finish at $2.17 in an exchange of 1,026 stock units, KLE Group rose 23 cents to $2.08 after exchanging 21 stocks. Knutsford Express declined $1.15 in ending at $9.85 as investors traded 3,213 shares, Lasco Distributors lost 7 cents to close at $2.67 after 11,424 stock units passed through the exchange, Lasco Financial dipped 17 cents to $2.63 trading 19,000 stocks. Lasco Manufacturing shed 59 cents to end at $4.11 with 3,070 units changing hands, Main Event rose 35 cents to end at $9.55 after 6,413 shares passed through the market, Medical Disposables advanced 39 cents to close at $5 in trading 56,291 stock units. MFS Capital Partners gained 34 cents in closing at $3.55 in switching ownership of 5,814,055 units, Paramount Trading popped 15 cents to $2.35 after exchanging 92,494 stocks, Spur Tree Spices lost 12 cents to close at $2.78 with the swapping of 209,621 stock units. Tropical Battery shed 24 cents to end at $2.36 while trading 669,029 shares and tTech declined 14 cents to $2.41 with a transfer of 2,167 stocks.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Two companies exist ICTOP10
As was the case last week, the Jamaica stock market continues to consolidate as it awaits developments that will push investors to act decisively. At the same time, the Main Market traded heavily and sat below the close of the previous week but the Junior Market mostly traded above the prior week’s close.
After just one week in the ICTOP10, Tropical Battery price rose this week and resulted in the stock falling outside the top flight, to be replaced by Lasco Manufacturing that dropped out during the previous week. In the Main Market, Scotia Group slipped out of the TOP10 and Radio Jamaica reentered.
At the end of the week, Tropical Battery rose 9 percent to $2.60, Image Plus Consultants gained 6 percent to close at $2.05, Paramount Trading rallied 5 percent to $2.20 and Iron Rock Insurance rose 4 percent to end at $2.50. Honey Bun fell 8 percent to $7.07 and was the only one of only two stocks to decline for the week, with the other slipping by just one percent.
In the Main Market, 138 Student Living popped 11 percent to $5.56, while Berger Paints fell 8 percent to $9.75, followed by a 5 percent decline for Jamaica Broilers to close at $30.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 5.6, well below the market average of 14.7, while the Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 6.6 versus the market at 12.8, important indicators of the level of the undervaluation of the ICTOP10 stocks currently. The Junior Market is projected to rise by 208 percent and the Main Market TOP10 an average of 275 percent, to May this year. The major concern for the Main Market achieving such gains by May is that the list is dominated by financial companies that are out of favour and may need to see the summer months before full interest of investor start to show.
The Junior Market has 16 stocks representing 33 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 31, averaging 21 compared with the above average of the market. The top half of the market has an average PE of 18. The above average shows the extent of potential gains for the TOP 10 stocks. The situation in the Main Market is similar, with the 18 highest valued stocks priced at a PE of 15 to 116, with an average of 28 and 21 excluding the highest valued stocks and 28 for the top half excluding the highest valued stock.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market but not always. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings, allowing investors to focus on the most undervalued stocks and helping to remove emotions in selecting stocks for investments that often result in costly mistakes.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to the end of May 2023 and are ranked in order of potential gains, computed using projected earnings 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 are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.
A Lasco company exists ICTOP10
The Jamaica stock market continues to consolidate, awaiting a dynamic development to push it decisively in one direction or another as the Bank of Jamaica quietly tightened the money supply further in January, drying up buying power in the short run. The first big likely move is unlikely to be a reduction of interest rates which is seemingly set to occur in the second quarter, but the reporting of substantially increased profits to flow from some companies.
Tropical Battery returns to the ICTOP10 list for this week with projected earnings of 30 cents for the current year, up from 15 cents last fiscal year and replaces Lasco Manufacturing which dropped out with a rise in price during the week as the supply of the stock has drooped sharply recently, with just 11 offers to sell now in the system.
Image Plus Consultants reported nine months results with revenues rising 27 percent in the November quarter to $248 million and 43 percent in the nine months to $803 million, while profit rose moderately to $24 million from $22 million in 2021 and for the nine months profits nearly tripled that of 2021 to reach $148 million. The company reported incorrect earnings per share for the periods, using the incorrect number of shares. As a result, rather than 29 cents per share for the quarter and $1.84, it is 2.3 cents and 15 cents for the nine months. Regardless, the stock is cheap based on these earnings and those to come.
Honey Bun rose 10 percent to $7.69, with the December quarter results due any time now, Lasco Financial gained 9 percent to $2.84 and Lasco Manufacturing gained 5 percent to $4.79. General Accident rallied 6 percent to $4.99. Image Plus Consultants entered the ICTOP10 after just one day of trading and fell to a low of $1.86 during the past week before rebounding to close this past week with a fall of 12 percent to $1.93, Caribbean Assurance Brokers lost 6 percent of its value to close at $2 and Paramount Trading fell 5 percent to $2.10.
All other movements in the Junior Market TOP10 were 3 percent or less. The Main Market Berger Paints popped 12 percent to $10.60, followed by a 9 percent rise for Jamaica Broilers to close at $31.50 and Guardian Holdings with a gain of 4 percent to $535. There were no notable losses.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP10 is 5.6, well below the market average of 15, while the Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 6.5 versus the market at 12.6, critical indicators of the level of the undervaluation of the ICTOP10 stocks currently. The Junior Market is projected to rise by 211 percent and the Main Market TOP10 by an average of 274 percent to May this year. The primary concern for the Main Market achieving such gains by May is that the list is dominated by financial companies that are out of favour and may need to see the summer months before the full interest of investor start to show.
The Junior Market has 15 stocks representing 31 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 29, averaging 21 compared with the above average of the market. The top half of the market has an average PE of 18, with prices of Fosrich and Future Energy adjusting downwards closer to the average of the TOP15. The above average shows the extent of potential gains for the TOP 10 stocks. The situation in the Main Market is similar, with the 18 highest valued stocks priced at a PE of 15 to 116, with an average of 27 and 20 excluding the highest valued stocks and 27 for the top half excluding the highest valued stock.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market but not always. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings, allowing investors to focus on the most undervalued stocks and helping to remove emotions in selecting stocks for investments that often result in costly mistakes.
IC TOP10 stocks will likely deliver the best returns up to the end of May 2023 and are ranked in order of potential gains, computed using projected earnings for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate, resulting in weekly movements in and out of the lists. Revisions to earnings are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.