Stocks ended the past week with the Jamaica Stock Exchange two main markets closing slightly down with the All Jamaica Composite and Junior Market Indices slipping and the JSE Main Index just managing to hold on to some gains. Effectively the markets held on to the majority of gains of the previous week with a number of stocks have limit supplies on offer and thus inducing buyers to bid the prices of some stocks higher.

 The Junior Market TOP10 had just two stocks gaining with 6 falling and in the Main Market TOP10 only one stock gained and 7 declined. Guardian Holdings continues to hold on to the number one buy position by a wide margin, in all markets as well as the All JSE TOP10. The All JSE TOP10 is compiled from all ordinary stocks listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange with the highest potential to gain, based on projected 2024 earnings. This list is more exacting than the Junior and Main Market TOP10 lists. Caribbean Cream continued to hold the number one spot in the Junior Market followed by Elite Diagnostic.
In the Junior Market ICTOP10, Access Financial rose 12 percent to close at a $20.07 and One great Studio picked up 8 percent to close at 70 cents. Caribbean Assurance Brokers and Caribbean Cream shed 8 percent to close at $3.27 and $3.17 respectively, with other declining stocks losing 3 percent or less.
In the Main Market ICTOP10, the only winning stock, Berger Paints popped 5 percent to $8.44. JMMB Group, 138 Student Living and Pulse Investments all fell 7 percent to end at $22.25, $4.06 and $1.49 respectively, with the rest losing 2 percent or less.
No stock fell out of the Junior Market IC TOP10 at the end of the week. There was one change to JSE Main Market ICTOP10, with Lasco Distributors falling out and replaced by Jamaica Broilers.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market ICTOP 10 stands at 5.1, well below the market average of 14.6 and the Junior Market TOP10 sits at 6.7, just more than half of the market, with an average of 12.7.
The Main Market ICTOP10 is projected to gain an average of 305 percent by May 2025, based on 2024 forecasted earnings and provide better values than the Junior Market with the potential to achieve 212 percent over the same period.
In the Main Market ICTOP 10, a total of 16 of the most highly valued stocks representing 31 percent of the Main Market have PEs between 15 to 108, with an average of 30 and 22 excluding the highest PE ratios, and a PE of 24 for the top half of the market with the highest values and 18 excluding the stocks with overweight values.
In the Junior Market IC TOP10 are 10 stocks, 21 percent of the market, with PEs ranging from 15 to 27 with an average of PE of 19 and a PE of 16 for half of the market with the highest PEs.
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.
IC TOP10 stocks will likely deliver the best returns on or around May 2025 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.