Lumber Depot dominated trading with
Lumber Depot traded 61.5 percent of the total volume of stocks, trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange after sellers pushed 9.62 million shares, with the price plunging to a low of $2.50 during the day but recovered to close at $2.94, but with the bid at $2.58 to buy 22,010 shares.
Jetcon Corporation closed with just one bid to buy 73,805 shares at 65 cents, well off the last traded price of $1.30.
Market activity led to 36 securities trading compared to 34 on Friday and ended with the prices of 14 stocks rising, 17 declining and five closing unchanged.
The Junior Market Index slipped 3.54 points to 3,319.23. The PE Ratio, a measure used to compute an appropriate value of a stock, averages 12.9 based on ICInsider.com’s 2021-22 earnings forecast.
The market closed on Tuesday, with the volume of stocks traded spiking 627 percent, with 537 percent greater value than on Friday. Trading volume surged to 15,655,131 shares 
for $44,661,348 compared to 2,153,858 units at $7,010,164 on Friday.
Derrimon Trading had the second highest volume with 11.2 percent of the day’s trade after an exchange of 1.75 million shares and Future Energy Source was next, with a 9.3 percent market share with an exchange of 1.46 million units.
Trading averaged 434,865 units at $1,240,593 in contrast to 63,349 at $206,181 on Friday. Trading for July closed with an average of 163,918 units at $481,755.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows one stock ending with the bid higher than its last selling price and one with a lower offer.
At the close, Blue Power rose 9 cents to $3.35 with 9,841 shares changing hands, CAC 2000 gained $1.42 to finish at $10.92, with an exchange of 921 stocks, Caribbean Cream slipped 8 cents to $5.80 with investors switching ownership of 880,910 units. Future Energy Source added 5 cents to close at $1.43, with 1,459,917 stock units traded, GWest Corporation rallied by 5 cents to 99 cents with a transfer of 800 shares, Indies Pharma advanced 19 cents to $3.79, with 60,800 stocks changing hands. Iron Rock Insurance climbed 28 cents to $3.88 with an exchange of 33,165 stock units, Jamaican Teas lost 7 cents to finish at $3.95, with 233,852 units passing through the market, Lasco Manufacturing slipped 5 cents to $5.20 with 116,657 shares traded. 
Lumber Depot fell 36 cents to $2.94 with a transfer of 9,623,115 stock units, Medical Disposables shed 49 cents to finish at $4.50 with 825 units changing hands, SSL Venture popped 11 cents to 87 cents, in switching ownership of 5,744 shares. Stationery and Office Supplies rallied $1.12 to $6.88 with 879 stock units traded and Tropical Battery lost 10 cents to close at $1.30 with 28,827 units crossing the exchange.
In the preference segment, CAC 2000 9.5% advanced 20 cents to $1 with 8,606 stocks changing hands.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
The market closed on Friday, with the volume of stocks traded declining by 33 percent and the value slipping 29 percent from Thursday outcome, after 34 securities traded, similar to Thursday, with prices of 12 rising, 10 falling and 12 closing unchanged leading the Market Index to spike 14.49 points to close at 3,322.77 on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market. 
Future Energy Source led trading with 26.2 percent of total volume, after an exchange of 563,890 shares, Jamaican Teas followed with 21.5 percent, for 462,064 units and Tropical Battery 11.2 percent with an exchange of 240,306 units.
GWest Corporation declined by 5 cents to 94 cents with 10,000 units changing hands, Lasco Distributors dropped 16 cents to $4.04 with 1,222 stock units traded, Lumber Depot fell 10 cents to $3.30, with 15,040 shares passing through the market. Main Event climbed 43 cents to $4.79 with a transfer of 13,551 units, Medical Disposable jumped 46 cents to $4.99 with investors switching ownership of 13,999 stocks and Stationery and Office Supplies shed $1.49 to close at $5.76 with 13,525 shares crossing the exchange.
A total of 34 securities traded on Thursday, up from 33 on Wednesday and ended with the prices of 11 stocks rising, 13 declining and 10 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.
Knutsford Express spiked 49 cents to $7.69 with 240 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors spiked 39 cents to $4.20 with a transfer of 180,263 units, as investors responded positively to the company’s first quarter results that saw profit rising by 58 percent. Lasco Manufacturing gained 5 cents to close at $5.25 with 79,177 stocks traded, Lumber Depot rose 5 cents to $3.40 with investors switching ownership of 382,752 stock units, Main Event dropped 94 cents to $4.36, with 3,170 units changing hands and Stationery and Office Supplies advanced 10 cents to $7.25 with 13,696 shares crossing the exchange.
Market activity led to 33 securities trading compared to 34 on Tuesday and ended with the prices of just eight stocks rising, 14 declining and 11, closing unchanged.
Main Event climbed 50 cents to $5.30 with a transfer of 1,928 stocks and Medical Disposables slipped 5 cents to $4.55 with 7,560 units crossing the exchange.
Market activity led to 37 securities trading compared to 33 on Friday and ended with the prices of 12 rising, 16 declining and nine closing unchanged and two stocks closed at 52 weeks’ low.
average of 225,705 units at $644,459.
Mailpac Group rallied 5 cents to $3.85 with a transfer of 253,262 stock units, Main Event lost 10 cents to end at $5.10 with 6,490 shares traded, Medical Disposables fell 20 cents to $4.55, with 12,600 units passing through the market. Paramount Trading dipped 9 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.06, with investors switching ownership of 101,382 stocks and SSL Venture rose 7 cents to 80 cents with 3,983 shares crossing the exchange.
The Junior Market recovered all of its Covid-19 related loss and more in hitting its highest level this week, since the first week of December 2019, helped by a number of ICInsider.com Top stocks of which 6 recorded gains between 69 percent and 81 and two over 100 percent, with the market up 29 percent for 2021 to date. 
The top three stocks in the Junior Market are Elite, Caribbean Assurance and Medical Disposables, with the potential to gain between 223 and 287 percent, following the range of 254 to 276 percent last week. The top three Main Market stocks are Radio Jamaica in the number one spot, followed by JMMB Group and Guardian Holdings, with expected gains of 171 to 379 percent versus last weeks’ 188 to 385 percent.
For the Junior Market to trade at the historical average, the PE Ratio would have to rise by 31 percent and requires a rise of 54 percent to reach the targeted PE of 20 by March 2022. Main Market stocks would need to rise by 11 percent to hit a PE of 19 and 17 percent to get to the target of 20.
Main market had three days of decline but ended the week with a fall of points after recording a strong rise the previous week.
This past week the average gains projected for the Junior stocks slipped from 207 percent last week to 204 percent and the Main Market stocks moved up from last week’s 166 percent up to 172 percent with the upgrading of JMMB earnings.
The Junior Market closed the week with an average PE 13.1 based on ICInsider.com’s 2021-22 earnings and currently trades well below the target of 20 and the recent historical average of 17 for the period to March this year based on 2020 earnings. For the market to trade at the historical average, the PE Ratio would have to rise by 31 percent and require a rise of 52 percent to March 2022 to reach the targeted PE of 20.
The Main Market TOP 10 trades at a PE of 7.9 or 46 percent of the PE of that market, well off the potential of 20.
Scotia Group, along with Caribbean Cream, fell out of the TOP10 based on downward revisions to their earnings for the coming financial year ends. Moving into the Junior Market TOP10 is ISP Finance with the price dropping to $15.60 on Friday and the Main Market listed, Berger Paints moving back in the TOP10 with the price at $13.85 on Friday.
The targeted PE ratio for the market remains an average of 20 based on profits of companies reporting full year’s results up to the second quarter of 2022. Fiscal 2020-21 ended March 2021 with the average PE at 17 for Junior Stocks and 19 times for the Main Market. One reason why the Junior Market stocks have outperformed Main Market ones since last year can be seen from the big difference between the valuations of both markets, with the latter values close to maturity, based on present valuation metrics.
The Junior Market Top 10 stocks average a mere 6.7 at just 51 percent of the market average, indicating substantial gains ahead. The JSE Main Market ended the week with an overall PE of 17.1, a little distance from the 19 the market ended in March, suggesting just an 11 percent rise at a PE of 19 and 17 percent at a PE of 20 from now to March 2022. The Main Market TOP 10 trades at a PE of 7.9 or 46 percent of the PE of that market, well off the potential of 20.
Other than Jetcon, prices of other TOP10 stocks had notable increases during the past week; these include; Jamaica Broilers and Grace Kennedy from the main market but Radio Jamaica, PanJam and Scotia Group prices took hits. In the Junior Market, Caribbean Cream, Access and Stationery and Office Supplies had nice gains resulted in the average gains projected slipping from 216 percent last week to 210 percent. The average projected gains for the Main Market stocks inched up last week from 169 to 170 percent.
The JSE All Jamaica Composite Index hit 466,915.58 points during the morning session on Friday, before closing lower at 459,273.23, up from 456,395.73, at the close of the previous week, as the market continues to wrestle with resistance.
This week’s focus: Access Financial Services came out with full year results that reflected increased lending and EPS of 50 cents in the March quarter. ICInsider.com upgraded earnings to just under $3 per share for the current fiscal year. Scotia Group also reported results for the six months to April, with a 12 percent rise in profit for the April quarter over the 2020 same quarter and an 11.4 percent rise for the six months results. The big negative is that the loan portfolio continued its decline into the April quarter. ICInsider.com now projects 2021 earnings at $4 per share.
The targeted PE ratio for the market averages 20 based on companies’ profits reporting full year’s results, up to the second quarter of 2022. Fiscal 2020-21 ended March 2021 with the average PE at 17 for Junior Stocks and 19 times for the Main Market.
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, resulting in periodic movements in and out of the lists. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
All Jamaica Composite Index ended at 454,375.81 on Friday, marginally lower than 454,479.33 at the close of the previous week.
The impression given in the group’s December quarterly report is that the sharp fall in direct operating, selling and marketing costs were directly related to the fall off in revenues. That of course is only part of the story. The fall in cost has been far greater than the reduction in revenues suggesting that actual cost cutting was effected. ICInsider.com confirmed that the group that made some staff redundant also made changes by discontinuing unprofitable programs and publications. “Regarding cost reductions, some changes in the distribution network and workflows are permanent,” this publication was informed but revenues for some of the newspapers continue to run below pre Covid-19 levels.
Fiscal 2020-21 ended March 2021 with the average PE at 17 for Junior Market stocks and 19 times for the Main Market.
trades at a PE of 7.8 or 48 percent of the PE of that market and well off the potential of 20.