The Junior Market ended October with the market index declining by 168.78 points year-to-date, or 4.96 percent to 3,232.63 points on Friday, from the 2025 close of 3,401.41. The move reflects a major rebound from the 15.5 percent fall in early August, fueled a great deal by a sharp decline in – Fosrich, Derrimon Trading and Woodcats International, three of the market’s heavily weighted stocks.
The decline and bottoming of the market reflect a long-term trend with a sell-off of stocks in May, with the market bottoming out in the summer months. This year’s sell-off started in March and accelerated in April and May. Companies reporting solid profit increases over the 2025 fiscal year attracted more buying interest and, in some cases, drove prices higher, with all TOP10 companies recording increased profits this year.
The weakness in the market index took place despite advances from several securities, led by Jetcon Corporation, which jumped more than 283 percent. Several securities lost more than half of their value, as most stocks declining suffered from reduced profits or incurred losses.
Among the top gainers, Jetcon Corporation led with a gain of 283.33 percent, following vastly improved results driven by revenues up by more than 100 percent and profits jumping over 170 percent over 2025. Caribbean Cream climbed 123.92 percent, following a 9 percent jump in revenues and, more importantly, profits for the half year to August surged from a loss of $9.5 million to a profit of $114 million. R.A. Williams Distributors rallied 86.49 percent as the company returned to profit of just under $50 million for the first quarter, more than 50 percent for the company’s full year 2024 results. 
One Great Studio gained 62.86 percent, recovering from an oversold position. Image Plus Consultants rose 50 percent, and MFS Capital climbed by 41.03 percent. Future Energy rallied by 26.71 percent, Atlantic Hardware jumped 23.65 percent, Spur Tree Spices is up 20.69 percent helped by improved six months results and Dolla Financial Services rounded out the top ten with a gain of 14.52 percent.
Falling stocks was led by, Kintyre Holdings, the weakest performer, declining 75.71 percent, before the shares were suspended earlier in the year, followed by CAC 2000 at 68.18 percent as profit performance worsened for the nine months and Main Event at 48.05 percent, following a sharp fall in revenues and a fall in profit for the nine months and the quarter to July. Caribbean Flavours & Fragrances lost 38.92 percent, Fosrich fell 36.95 percent and Edufocal dropped 35.71 percent. Blue Power Group declined 26.89 percent, Knutsford Express Services fell 26.64 percent, Derrimon Trading lost 26.59 percent, and Consolidated Bakeries shed 23.91 percent.
The results emanated from a 27 percent jump in revenues to $315 million from $248 million for the same period the prior year. For the year to date revenues rose 8 percent to $869 million $803 million in 2022. Growth in revenues for the nine months to November was negatively affected by downtime of one of the CT units in Kingston in the previous quarter.
Against the above market movements, there was just one new addition to the ICTOP10 with listings for the Junior Market with Caribbean Flavours moving out with a 15 percent gain for the week to close at $1.39 and Access Financial taking its place. The other big action in the Junior Market, resulted in Paramount Trading gaining 12 percent to close at $1.68, Caribbean Cream rising 9 percent to $3.70 and Jamaican Teas adding 5 percent to end at $2.35. Lasco Manufacturing dropped 7 percent to $4.20 and Express Catering fell 6 percent to $3.75.
For the half year, profit jumped 76 percent to $234 million as loan granted borrowers rose almost $600 million to $5.36 billion from $4.76 billion in September 2022 and the same amount since March this year. The company had more than $760 million available to lend plus cash flows from profit that should pushed lending up around 25 percent year over year and helped to swell profits for the year substantially above the six months levels.
Of great import is that the averages of both markets are now converging around a PE of 20 for close to a third of the market, as the year is coming to a close and with more information available on full year’s earnings.
There were no new additions to the Main Market IC TOP 10, however, the Junior Market, had 3 new additions with Express Catering coming in as well as Caribbean Flavours and Lasco Distributors, replacing Dolphin Cove enjoyed b appreciation during the week, Everything Fresh that also dropped out following downward adjustment to earnings, after the company released third quarter results with weak profit performance although revenues in the quarter rose nicely over the similar period in 2022 and Caribbean Assurance with management advising of a surprising 40 percent cut in “the International Comprehensive Health Insurance Programme’s renewal commission rate, with a corresponding 40 percent increase in its new business rate, with the expressed intention of incentivising the production and consistent growth of new business.” Unfortunately, Management gave no timeline when revenues will return to traditional levels.
The PE of the Junior Market TOP10 sits at 6.9, just over half of the market, with an average of 13.1. There are 14 stocks, or 29 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 46, averaging 21 that are well above the market’s average of 13. The top half of the market has an average PE of 18, possibly the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks currently, with the market projected to rise by 260 percent on or around May 2024.
The company indicated that revenues fell due to machine breakdown, although other areas saw growth in the modalities of X-ray and fluoroscopy cases.
Price movements in the market resulted in one new TOP10 listing for the Junior Market and one for the Main Market. Everything Fresh rose 9 percent to $1.75, followed by Caribbean Assurance Brokers, gaining 7 percent to end at $3.10, while the losers include Elite Diagnostic and One on One, down 5 percent to $1.79 and $1.01 respectively, followed by a 4 percent decline in Dolphin Cove to $15.50.
Returning to the Main Market TOP 10 is Caribbean Cement replacing Guardian Holdings, with the nine months’ results indicating lower earnings this year based on the new accounting policy.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market, but this is not always so. 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.
CInsider.com upgraded earnings to $0.40 per share for the current year and that pushed the stock to 5th place on the TOP 10 list. Paramount Trading returns with a depressed price and gains by the two stocks dropping out of the listing.
The PE of the Junior Market TOP10 sits at 5.9, just over half of the market, with an average of 10.8. There are 11 stocks, or 23 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 25, averaging 18.6, well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 15, possibly the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks currently, with the market projected to rise by 244 percent by May 2024.
The company did not benefit as much from interest income as would be expected and had adequate funds on hand to expand the loan portfolio, development management indicated they would be pursuing for the rest of the year. Significant expansion of loans could radically transform both revenues and profit for the year. The extent of this improvement is unclear currently, however, the potential suggests that this is a stock to watch going forward as it could surprise to the upside. Lasco Manufacturing is, without question, a stock that is seriously undervalued, but investors pushed the price down during the week. This is clearly one for the future and one that investors should see continuous improvement in stock price over the next 12 months as the company rolls out improved profits in the quarters to come.
The expectation is for profitability to improve during the current fiscal year ending in June 2024. The stock is clearly undervalued and has much room for growth over the next 12 months and beyond. 
The divergence between the average PE of the Main and Junior Markets and the overall market valuation are important indicators of the level of likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 stands at 5.1, well below the market average of 12.2. The Main Market TOP10 is projected to gain an average of 328 percent, by May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
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.