The big news for the past week was a 28 percent jump in the price of General Accident shares, following the release of the first-quarter results. The stock last traded at $6.01 after rising to a high of $6.63 on Friday and dropped out of the Junior Market TOP 10.
General Accident is now out of IC TOP 10 with Q1 profit more than doubling.
During the week, investors pushed the Junior Market up 4 percent but barely moved the Main Market higher, with less than a percentage point rise. This trend is worth watching as bullish indicators point to more gains for Junior Market stocks going forward, with the latter being highly undervalued compared to the Main Market.
Medical Disposables rose from $6.20 at the start of the week to close at $7 and was the other stock to fall out of Junior Market, IC TOP 10. Coming into the TOP 10 are CAC2000 and Elite Diagnostic. The latter faced challenges in critical machine operation, resulting in lost income. Management stated that they “continue to have challenges getting the CT and MRI machines” at the St Ann branch operational. The company will hopefully resolve the problems soon so that the 2021 fiscal year can deliver optimally. Revenue for the 3rd quarter rose to $111.4 million, from $107 million the previous year and resulted in a loss of $2 million compared to a profit of $16 million the past year. 
In the Main Market, Proven Investments dropped out of the TOP 10 and replaced by Victoria Mutual Investments.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 344 to 634 percent by 2021 are Caribbean Producers, followed by KLE Group and Lasco Financial. In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica continues to lead, followed by Berger Paints and JMMB Group with projected gains of 165 to 190 percent.
This week’s focus: General Accident reported profit rising 146 percent to $76 million, with investment and other income moving from just $7 million to $74 million. The report showed no cost-benefit from savings that could result from lower motor vehicle accident claims, from sharply reduced motor vehicle usage, since March. Gross Premiums written declined to $2.54 billion from $2.69 billion, but Net Premiums written increased to $689 million from $543 million. Claims rose to $448 million from $294 million in 2019. The December quarter usually generates the highest profit, with claims accounted for conservatively in the earlier quarters adjusted to reflect expected amounts. 
The new subsidiary, Trinidad based MotorOne Insurance made a small loss of $2 million in the quarter, an indication that not much contribution to profit is expected from it for the current year, it could add to 2021 profit for the group. Total assets of the company grew substantially since March last year from $7.5 billion to $12 billion in the current year, with liabilities rising by $3.5 billion.
Over at Jamaican Teas a report in the newspaper stated, “President of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association, JMEA, Richard Pandohie, says the coronavirus has opened trade doors that the sector had been knocking on for a long time.”
“On one level there have been great stories where those businesses have exploded in terms of exports. A lot of small manufacturers who are into natural juices, and natural products from cassava and natural spices have gone into markets that they have trying to do for years,” Pandohie told the Financial Gleaner.
One company that has seen an uptick in business, Jamaican Teas, had to lay on new work shifts and extra production days to keep up with export demand.
“Because of our product base, there’s been strong demand overseas to the extent that we’re doing over time, even on Saturdays, keeping up with the extra demand, said JamTeas CEO John Mahfood.
Although General Accident stock is now out of the Junior market IC TOP 10 listing, it boasts a PE ratio of just 7 versus the market average of 9.4 times this years’ earnings, an indication of potentially more upside for it.
The targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after 2020 second quarter up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 14 and the Junior Market at just 9.4, based on current 2020-21 earnings. 
The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5.2 with or 55 percent to the average of the overall Junior Market. The Main Market TOP 10 stocks trade at 8.7 or 62 percent of the PE of the overall market.
The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 319 percent, for the Junior Market and 136 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings, an indication that there is potential to make greater gains in the Junior Market than in the Main Market.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver some of the best returns up to March 2021. Forecasted earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year are used in determining potential gains. The ranking of stocks is in order of likely increases, with the highest-ranked, being the most attractive. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.
Cargo Handlers closed 5 cents higher at $6.55, with 190 stock units trading, Caribbean Cream climbed 15 cents and exchanged 734 shares at $2.69, Caribbean Producers closed 11 cents higher at $2.52, with 477,643 stock units trading. Derrimon Trading closed 7 cents higher at $2.50, with 17,431 stock units traded, Elite Diagnostic declined by 59 cents in exchanging 9,360 units at $3.29, Express Catering climbed 16 cents and exchanged 18,269 shares at $3.51, Fosrich closed 30 cents higher after trading 99,267 stock units at $4. Fontana closed trading of 96,620 units and gained 34 cents to end at $5.90, General Accident closed 2 cents higher at $6.01, with 648,867 stock units trading. Honey Bun climbed 45 cents and exchanged 52,137 shares at $5.45, iCreate closed with 112,094 units passing through the market and gained 2 cents to end at 55 cents, Iron Rock Insurance declined by 9 cents to settle at $3.90, with 3,000 units changing hands. Jamaican Teas ended trading of 125,687 units with gains of 39 cents to end at $4.29, Jetcon Corporation closed with a loss of 8 cents at 80 cents swapping 28,000 shares, Knutsford Express closed trading of 500 units and gained 20 cents to end at $8.70. 
Lasco Distributors declined by 10 cents trading 630,500 units at $2.90, Lasco Manufacturing fell by 30 cents exchanging 797,613 units at $4, Limners and Bards dipped 8 cents trading 198,771 units at $1.82. Lumber Depot shed 2 cents trading 370,242 units at $1.12, MailPac Group closed with a loss of 3 cents at $1.88 swapping 251,508 shares, Medical Disposables shed 5 cents transferring 22,711 units at $7. Main Event lost 10 cents in trading of 18,000 units at $4.08, Stationery and Office Supplies lost 5 cents 20,757 units changing hands at $6. SSL Venture ended market activity while exchanging 18,400 shares to close at 75 cents, after falling 10 cents and tTech closed with a loss of 9 cents at $4.41 after swapping 42,269 shares.
Trading concluded with 29 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 3,217,184 units valued at $14,221,850 compared to 2,553,437 units valued at $9,523,569 from 30 securities on Wednesday. The market’s PE ratio closed at 9.2 times 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, the recently listed Caribbean Assurance Brokers climbed 11 cents to $2.50 with an exchange of 80,524 units as supply continues to dry up for the stock. Caribbean Cream ended with a loss of 1 cent at $2.54 with 20,000 stock units changing hands, Caribbean Producers finished at $2.41 after sliding 8 cents in the swapping 526,391 units, Derrimon Trading jumped 31 cents in the exchange of 85,106 shares to close at $2.43. Everything Fresh ended 9 cents higher at 80 cents with 26,000 shares changing hands, Express Catering shed 16 cents trading 23,200 stock units at $3.35, Fontana ended market activity 12 cents higher at $5.56 trading 298,168 shares. General Accident jumped 99 cents in the exchange of 1,404,778 units to close at $5.99 after the company posted first-quarter results, with profit rising 146 percent to $76 million as investments and other income grew from just $7 million to $74 million. Honey Bun fell 15 cents to $5 with 34,711 shares crossing the exchange, iCreate added 2 cents and exchanged 70,302 shares to finish at 53 cents, Iron Rock Insurance climbed 54 cents to $3.99 with trading a mere 200 units, Jamaican Teas lost 10 cents in swapping 41,176 units to end at $3.90. 
Lasco Distributors declined 3 cents to finish at $3 in the trading 95,285 units, Lasco Manufacturing jumped 25 cents and swapped 1,481 shares to settle at $4.30, Limners and Bards finished at $1.90 after gaining 5 cents and exchanging 12,428 shares. Lumber Depot added 1 cent and traded 79,678 units to close at $1.14, MailPac picked up 3 cents to end at $1.91 with 166,821 shares changing hands, Main Event rounded out the day at $4.18 after gaining 10 cents and exchanging 200 shares. Medical Disposables closed trading of 77,337 units and slipped 7 cents to end at $7.05, Stationery and Office Supplies dropped 25 cents in swapping 68,787 shares to settle at $6.05 and tTech fell 25 cents to $4.50 with 21,000 with units crossing the exchange.
The day’s activities ended with 30 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 2,553,437 units valued at $9,523,569 compared to 7,713,659 units for $39,344,491 from 31 companies on Tuesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9.1 times 2020-21 earnings.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows three stocks ended with bids higher than its last selling prices and three with lower offers.
ISP Finance shed $1.90 in the trading of 6,010 shares to end at $14, Jamaican Teas inched 1 cent higher and exchanged 52,000 shares to settle at $4, Knutsford Express jumped 80 cents to $8.50 with 3,470 units changing hands. Lasco Distributors climbed 73 cents to $3.03, with the swapping of 200 shares, Lasco Financial picked up 10 cents and exchanged 36,897 shares to end at $2.70, Lasco Manufacturing traded 1,018,392 units to close at $4.05 after slipping 4 cents. Limners and Bards declined 5 cents in switching 5,500 units to end at $1.85, Lumber Depot gained 1 cent to end at $1.13 with 95,476 shares traded, MailPac Group gained 4 cents in the exchange of 343,873 units to settle at $1.88 and Medical Disposables jumped 82 cents to close at $7.12 with 6,000 shares crossing the exchange.
Market activities concluded with the prices of 12 securities rising, seven declining and 12 holding firm as the market index dived 42.97 points to close at 2,410.29. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at nine times 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial jumped 90 cents in the trading of 2,275 units to settle at $24, Caribbean Assurance Brokers finished 20 cents higher at $2.35 with 1,000 units changing hands, Caribbean Flavours gained 30 cents after swapping 200 shares to end at $10. Caribbean Producers finished at $2.50 after rising 10 cents with 783,115 units changing hands, Dolphin Cove surged 80 cents to close at $7.80 with 8,951 shares crossing the exchange, Elite Diagnostic dropped 8 cents to close at $3.80 in the trading of 2900 units. Everything Fresh slipped 6 cents to 71 cents after exchanging 15,000 shares, Express Catering added 3 cents in trading 21,909 stock units to close at $3.45, Fosrich settled at $3.70 after gaining 20 cents and trading 16,158 shares. General Accident ended 19 cents lower at $4.51 with 161,350 units changing hands, Honey Bun climbed 38 cents to finish at $5.40 with 45,609 stock units trading, 
Lasco Distributors shed 80 cents in exchanging 237,500 shares to close at $2.30. Lasco Financial finished at $2.60 after losing 9 cents in swapping 59,900 units, Lasco Manufacturing added 9 cents to close at $4.09 with 29,766 shares changing hands, Mailpac Group added 1 cent and exchanged 380,004 shares to end at $1.84. Medical Disposables jumped 45 cents to $6.30 with 5,094,791 shares crossing the market, Paramount Trading lost 1 cent and exchanged a mere 15 units to close at $1.99. SSL Venture dropped 5 cents in the swapping of 10,500 units to close at 85 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies closed 10 cents higher at $6.30 with 20,251 units crossing the exchange.
At the close of market activities, 36 securities changed hands the prices of 12 securities advanced, 16 declined and eight remained unchanged with the average Pe ratio for the market ending at 8.8 times 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained $1 to end at $23.10 with 701 stock units trading, Blue Power ended trading with 27,924 shares, after rising 12 cents to close at $3.55, CAC 2000 closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 39 cents to end at $9.39. Caribbean Cream fell by 20 cents in trading of 150,000 units at $2, Caribbean Flavours shed 30 cents in exchanging 1,752 units at $9.70, Caribbean Producers lost 10 cents in trading 396,001 shares to close at $2.40. Consolidated Bakeries closed 19 cents higher at $1.70, trading 9,455 stock units, Derrimon Trading closed 19 cents higher at $2, with 3,021,923 stock units changing hands, Everything Fresh closed trading of 1,000 units with gains of 6 cents to end at 77 cents, Express Catering ended market activity exchanging 22,223 shares to close at $3.42 after falling by 8 cents. Fontana slipped 13 cents in trading 96,338 shares to close at $5.44. Fosrich lost 20 cents in trading of 19,426 units at $3.50, GWest Corporation closed trading of 1,000 units and gained 10 cents to end at 90 cents, Honey Bun lost 18 cents with 49,002 units crossing the market at $5.02. iCreate was down 4 cents in trading 391,995 shares to close at 51 cents, Iron Rock Insurance ended trading with 33,900 shares, after rising 75 cents to end at $3.45, ISP Finance lost 9 cents in trading of 1,000 units at $15.90.
Jamaican Teas closed trading of 13,510 units and gained 18 cents to end at $3.99, Knutsford Express declined 8 cents in trading of 43,553 units at $7.70. Lasco Distributors dipped 15 cents in trading of 53,691 units at $3.10, Lasco Manufacturing exchanged 24,398 shares, after rising 3 cents to end at $4. Limners and Bards closed with 4,834 units changing hands and gained 5 cents to end at $1.90, Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.12 with an exchange of 87,105 stock units. Mailpac Group declined by 5 cents to settle at $1.83 in swapping 257,532 shares, Main Event lost 2 cents trading 9,587 shares to close at $4.08, Medical Disposables declined by 35 cents in exchanging 6,795 units at $5.85 and tTech closed at $4.75 after rising $1.04 with 1,783 shares crossing the exchange.
In the Main Market, Seprod rose to $49.99 from $44.10 on limited volume, following robust first-quarter results, to be replaced by Proven Investments.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 355 to 663 percent by 2021 are
he targeted average PE ratio of the market is 20 based on the profits of companies reporting full year’s results for the financial year ending after this year’s second quarter and up to the second quarter in 2021. Both the Junior and Main markets are currently trading well below this level. The JSE Main Market ended the week, with an overall PE of 13.6 and the Junior Market a mere 8.9, based on current 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5 with the Main Market at a much higher level of 8.4.
IC TOP 10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns to March 2021. Forecasted earnings and PE ratio for the current fiscal year are in determining potential gains. The ranking of stocks is in order of likely increases, with the highest-ranked, being the most attractive. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and will result in movements of the selection in and out of the lists for most weeks. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
The day’s activities saw 31 securities changing hands, with the prices of eight rising, 16 declining and seven stocks holding firm. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 8.7 based on 2020-21 earnings.
At the close of the market, Blue Power slipped 2 cents to $3.43 with an exchange of 6,130 shares, Caribbean Assurance finished 7 cents lower at $2.30 with 24,683 units changing hands, Caribbean Cream dropped 45 cents and swapped 227,357 units to settle at $2.20. Derrimon Trading fell 24 cents to $1.81 with 1,556 shares changing hands, Elite Diagnostic added 26 cents and traded 29,100 shares to end at $3.88, Everything Fresh closed at 71 cents after swapping 32,000 shares and shedding 11 cents. Express Catering climbed 7 cents to $3.50 with 4,559 stock units crossing the exchange, Fontana closed 8 cents higher at $5.57 with 127,121 shares trading, FosRich slipped 1 cent in the trading 5,383 units to end at $3.70. General Accident dropped 48 cents in switching ownership of 697,342 units to end at $4.70, Honey Bun ended with a loss of 25 cents at $5.20 with 6,735 stock units changing hands, iCreate traded 1,276,052 shares to close at 55 cents after gaining 5 cents. Indies Pharma declined 1 cent to settle at $2.29, exchanging 24,593 units, Jamaican Teas slipped 6 cents and closed at $3.81 in trading 81,964 units, Jetcon Corporation added 8 cents to close at 88 cents with 43,792 shares changing hands. 
Knutsford Express climbed 28 cents and exchanged 36,650 shares to settle at $7.78, Lasco Financial slipped 1 cent in exchanging 28,028 units to end at $2.69, Lasco Manufacturing closed 2 cents higher at $3.97 with 36,324 stock units trading. Limners and Bards declined by 5 cents and exchanged 6,040 shares to end at $1.85, Lumber Depot finished with a loss of 1 cent at $1.13 with then swapping of 2,000 shares, MailPac Group traded 2,526,913 units and lost 7 cents to end at $1.88. Main Event gained 2 cents to settle at $4.10 with 673 stock units changing hands, Medical Disposables closed the day at $6.20 after exchanging 10,064 units and falling 10 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies finished 10 cents higher at $6.20 with 14,000 units crossing the exchange.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 13 securities advanced, ten declined and ten remained unchanged, leaving the Junior Market Index down 11.71 points to close at 2,452.33 and the average PE ratio for the market at 8.9 times 2020-21 earnings.
Caribbean Flavours closed 50 cents higher at $10, with 300 stock units trading, Caribbean Producers climbed 2 cents and exchanged 308,856 shares at $2.50. Express Catering lost 8 cents with investors switching ownership of 22,366 units at $3.43, Fontana closed trading of 23,650 units and gained 1 cent to end at $5.49, Fosrich Company declined by 8 cents in trading of 13,000 units at $3.71. General Accident exchanged 308,400 shares, after rising 18 cents to settle at $5.18, GWest Corporation lost 10 cents in trading 23,875 stock units to close at 80 cents, Honey Bun declined by 10 cents to close at $5.45 exchanging 182,436 shares. iCreate ended trading with 127,809 shares, after rising 6 cents to settle at 50 cents, Iron Rock Insurance closed 1 cent higher at $2.70, with 37,265 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas dipped 13 cents in trading 32,823 units at $3.87. Limners and Bards lost 5 cents exchanging 119,425 shares to close at $1.90, Lumber Depot exchanged 176,447 shares, after rising 1 cent to end at $1.14, 
Main Event ended market activity exchanging 16,627 shares to close at $4.08 after falling 42cents, 
Trading closed with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 3,008,593 units valued at $9,244,861 compared to 4,739,302 units valued at $9,995,916 from 32 securities on Tuesday. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 9 based on 2020-21 earnings.
Knutsford Express exchanged 9,900 shares to finish at $7.50 after falling $1.47, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 76,558 units and gained 15 cents to end at $3.25, Lasco Financial gained 10 cents to close at $2.70 with an exchange of 7,707 shares. Lasco Manufacturing added 1 cent to close at $3.99 with 64,598 shares traded,