The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed moderately higher on Tuesday after the market added nearly 90 points up late in the morning session, with the volume of stocks traded declining 21 percent and the value 29 percent lower than on Monday with 40 securities trading down from 47 on Monday and ended with prices of 20 rising, 16 declining and four closing unchanged.
A total of 9,486,819 shares were traded at $24,258,679 compared with 12,032,460 units at $34,094,366 on Monday.
Trading averaged 237,170 shares at $606,467 compared to 256,010 units at $725,412 on Monday. Trading month to date averages 196,347 units at $515,552 versus 187,473 stock units at $495,788 on the previous day. January closed with an average of 239,755 units at $646,375.
Image Plus Consultants led trading with 2 million shares for 21 percent of total volume followed by Derrimon Trading with 1.01 million units for 10.6 percent of the day’s trade and MFS Capital Partners with 1 million units for 10.6 percent market share.
At the close, the Junior Market Index advanced 7.39 points to 3,912.36.
The PE Ratio, a measure of computing appropriate stock values, averages 12.7. The PE ratios of Junior Market stocks use ICInsider.com’s projected earnings for the financial year ending that fall 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 advanced $2.25 to end at $23.25 with an exchange of 50 shares, AMG Packaging lost 20 cents to close at $2.70 after trading 47,645 stock units, Blue Power shed 24 cents to $2.46 in transferring 2,700 units. Caribbean Cream gained 25 cents to close at $3.50 with 85,796 stocks crossing the market, Consolidated Bakeries popped 60 cents in closing at $2.60 with the swapping of 32,800 stock units, Dolphin Cove fell 11 cents to end at $15.18 in switching ownership of 5,529 units. EduFocal shed 11 cents to close at $2.06 in exchanging 213,512 stocks, Fontana popped 10 cents to finish at $8.80 after 54,166 shares were traded, Fosrich lost 7 cents in ending at $3.52 with investors trading 539,126 shares. General Accident dipped 49 cents to close at $4.50 with 5,603 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun gained 10 cents to end at $7.40 after trading 1,290 stocks, Iron Rock Insurance advanced 22 cents to $2.39 with the swapping of one unit. Knutsford Express rallied 15 cents to close at $10 as investors exchanged 63,301 shares, Lasco Distributors shed 13 cents to end at $2.54 after 8,275 stock units passed through the market, Lasco Financial rose 19 cents to end at $2.82 as investors exchanged 17,200 units. Main Event gained 37 cents to close at $9.92 after a transfer of 1,602 stocks,
Paramount Trading fell 10 cents to end at $2.25 in trading 27,000 stock units, Stationery and Office Supplies declined $1.23 to $14.26 with the swapping of 5,291 shares and Tropical Battery gained 14 cents in ending at $2.50 after exchanging 311,397 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.