Junior Market climbs 46 points – Tuesday

After posting a moderate decline on Monday the Junior Market followed up Fridays good 50.7 points rise with another solid rally on Tuesday with the market index jumping 45.91 points to close at 2,465.19 resulting from a rise in the prices of 15 securities and a fall in the prices of 11 stocks while six remained unchanged.

Junior Market had a month of consolidation but maybe setting to breakout.

The day’s activities ended with 32 securities changing hands similar to the number on Monday, resulting in an exchange of 4,739,302 units at $9,995,916 compared to 3,532,717 units valued at $11,173,927, on Monday.
Trading closed with an average of 148,103 units for $312,372 for each security traded in contrast to 110,397 units at $349,185 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 139,654 units valued at 380,345 and previously 138,216 valued at $391,915. In contrast, April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stock ended with bids higher than its last selling prices and two with lower offers. One technical indicator is pointing to a big break out of the Junior Market soon.
At the close of the market, AMG Packaging gained 24 cents in exchanging 30,455 shares to end at $1.89, Blue Power slipped 10 cents to $3.40 with 7,103 units traded, Cargo Handlers finished 40 cents higher at $6.50 with 5,000 stock units changing hands. Caribbean Cream climbed 22 cents in exchange of 138,754 shares to settle at $2.51, Caribbean Producers added 5 cents to close at $2.35 with an exchange of 789,589 shares, Consolidated Bakeries fell 18 cents to $1.51 with 3,900 shares crossing the market. Dolphin Cove jumped 58 cents and swapped 5,000 units to end at $7.80, Elite Diagnostic dropped 30 cents to $3.20 with 32,800 shares changing hands, Everything Fresh ended with a loss of 19 cents at 70 cents trading 78,160 stock units. Fontana closed 45 cents higher trading 101,458 shares to finish at $5.45, Fosrich gained 35 cents in the exchange of 27,788 shares to settle at $3.80, General Accident closed trading of 164,716 units with the adding of 4 cents to end at $4.74. Honey Bun fell 10 cents to $5.49 with the swapping of 1,000 units, iCreate closed at 42 cents, after slipping 1 cent and trading 395,149 stock units, Indies Pharma lost 5 cents in exchanging of 6,847 shares to finish at $2.25.Jamaican Teas climbed 5 cents trading 34,755 shares to settle at $4, Jetcon Corporation jumped 24 cents to bounce back from yesterday’s 52-week low and finished at 89 cents with 45,500 units changing hands, KLE Group closed 5 cents higher at $1.70 with an exchange of 31,459 shares. Knutsford Express leaped $1.33 in the trading just 150 units to finish at $8.97, Lasco Distributors closed 11 cents lower at $3.10 with 15,957 stock units crossed the exchange, Lasco Manufacturing added 13 cents after an exchange of 3,131 shares to end at $3.98. Limners and Bards dropped 15 cents in trading 24,385 units to end at $1.80, Investors responded strongly to strong increased revenues and profit at Mailpac Group by moving the price higher by 4 cents to $1.89 in exchanging 2,498,396 shares, Main Event slid 39 cents in swapping 1,817 units to settle at $4.50. Medical Disposables lost 5 cents trading 20,204 units to close at $6.20 and Stationery and Office Supplies rose 5 cents to $6.20 with 16,906 stock units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Junior Market closed with 19 winners

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange closed on Monday with 32 securities changing hands and the prices of 19 securities rising, six stocks declining, seven remained unchanged, leaving the Junior Market Index to slip 1.20 points to 2,419.28.
The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 8.8 based on 2020-21 earnings. Investors exchanged 3,532,717 units valued at $11,173,927 compared to 4,856,519 units at $16,938,454 on Friday.
Trading ended with an average of 110,397 units at $349,185 for each security trading in contrast to 138,758 units at an average of $483,956 Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to units 138,216 valued at $391,915 and previously 143,923 units valued at $400,680. In contrast, April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Blue Power closed trading of 10,191 units and gained 10 cents to end at $3.50, Caribbean Assurance Brokers had 2,000 shares changing hands and added 1 cent to close at $2.19, Caribbean Cream ended exchanging 24,266 stock units, after rising 29 cents to end at $2.29. Derrimon Trading lost 10 cents, with 1,500 shares crossing the exchange at $2.05, Elite Diagnostic climbed 39 cents to $3.50, trading 3,617 stock units. Everything Fresh gained 9 cents in transferring ownership of 11,541 shares at 89 cents. Express Catering inched 6 cents higher after exchanging 23,000 shares at $3.40, Fontana fell 25 cents to close at $5, after swapping 898,165 shares, Fosrich climbed 25 cents and exchanged 1,500 shares at $3.45. General Accident closed trading of 167,388 units and gained 19 cents to end at $4.70, Honey Bun rose 44 cents higher to $5.59, with 48,863 stock units trading, iCreate inched 1 cent up and after an exchange of 11,551 shares at 43 cents. Indies Pharma ended trading with 79,992 shares, after rising 25 cents to end at $2.30, Iron Rock Insurance climbed 53 cents and exchanged 124,398 shares at $2.69, Jetcon Corporation fell 15 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 65, in swapping of 14,398 shares. Knutsford Express dipped 1.34 cents in trading of 4,000 units at $7.64, Lasco Distributors climbed 16 cents and exchanged 5,216 shares at $3.21, Limners and Bards closed 16 cents higher at $1.95, with 9,633 stock units trading. Lumber Depot closed trading of 135,602 units and gained 3 cents to end at $1.14, Mailpac Group closed trading of 1,075,563 units and gained 20 cents to end at $1.85, Main Event closed trading of 11,089 units and gained 39 cents to end at $4.89. Medical Disposables close with a loss of 5 cents at $6.25, swapping of 25,576 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies closed 10 cents higher at $6.15, with 3,603 stock units changing hands and tTech gained 2 cents and exchanged 18 shares at $4.75.
In the junior market preference segment, Derrimon Trading lost 16 cents in trading 434 shares to close at $1.50.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Just three IC TOP 10 changes

Investors seem to be shrugging off some of the recent negative developments in the Jamaica stock market, with their activity moving the Main Market higher by the close of the week and the Junior Market just a few points lower.
The market is moving into a period where prices tend to move slightly downward until early July when it usually, starts a slow recovery, in this regard, first quarter results are going to be important for the market’s direction for a few weeks. Information management presents current and future business developments that will be critical in informing investors.
Developments of note this past week are the reporting of new results, with Barita Investments reporting profit of $1 billion for earnings per share (EPS) of $1.24 for the half year to March, versus 68 cents in 2019. Jamaican Teas with negative EPS of 3 cents after gross profit climbed 33 percent over 2019 out turn. Pulse Investments EPS ended at 12 cents versus 5 cents in 2019 for the nine months to March and Wisynco Group generated EPS of 78 cents vs 61 cents for the nine months to March. General Accident released 2019 audited accounts that showed for the first time the impact of the acquisition of their 55 percent interest in the Trinidad based Motor One insurance company at $238 million.
The Junior and Main Market, IC Insider.com TOP 10 closed the week with Medical Disposables and Stationery and Office Supplies exiting the TOP 10, to be replaced by Access Financial Services and Caribbean Cream, after the latter fell to $2. Seprod replaced Victoria Mutual Investments in the Main Market listing.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 362 to 726 percent by 2021 are Caribbean Producers leading, 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 173 to 213 percent.
This week’s focus: Seprod released first quarter results after trading closed on Friday, with ongoing operating profits more than doubling from $312 million to $632 million for the 2020 first quarter, with EPS of 86 cents. Revenues climbed 6 percent from continuing operations to $9.14 billion, an increase of $544 million. The big improvement arose from the closure of the sugar manufacturing operations and improvement in profit margin. The Sugar operations generated a loss of nearly $140 million in 2019 and just $15 million in the latest quarter while gross profit margin jumped to 30 percent from 26.6 percent in 2019.  The first quarter results are in line with ICInsider.com’s forecast of $4 per share earnings for this year and put the PE at just 11 times current year’s earnings.
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 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 13.3 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 8.5.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at a discount of 44 percent of the average for Junior Market and Main Market stocks trade at a discount of 36 percent to the overall market. The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 338 percent, for the Junior Market and 139 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings.
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.

Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.

Junior Market makes sold gains

The Junior Market made solid gains on Friday even as declining stocks outnumbered advancing stocks, leaving the market index to close at 2,420.48 with gains of more than 50.7 points on top of the 9.28 points gained on Thursday, leaving the market down27.7 percent lower than at the start of the year.
Trading concluded with 35 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 4,856,519 units valued at $16,938,454 compared to 2,370,191 units valued at $6,835,545 from 27 securities on Thursday. Market activities ended with the prices of 10 securities rising, 17 declining and eight holding firm. The average PE ratio of the Junior Market ended at 8.6 based on 2020-21 earnings.
The day ended with an average of 138,758 units at $483,956 for each security traded, in contrast to 87,785 units, for an average of $253,168 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 143,923 units valued at $400,680, and previously 145,417 units valued at $376,592. Trading in April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and three with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial Services rose 1 cent in trading 15,525 stock units at $22.01, AMG Packaging lost 1 cent to settle at $1.65 and exchanged 2,306 units, Blue Power shed 24 cents and traded 8,458 units to settle at $3.40. Cargo Handlers ended 40 cents lower at $6.10 trading 28 units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers finished 27 cents higher at $2.18 with 39,833 shares changing hands, Caribbean Cream rose 18 cents to $2 in an exchange of 13,522 units. Derrimon Trading gained 35 cents in the exchange of 183,134 shares to close at $2.15, Everything Fresh swapped 28,988 units and picked up 9 cents to end at 80 cents, Express Catering fell by 2 cents in trading 34,348 units to close at $3.34. Fontana gained 18 cents to close at $5.25 with an exchange of 28,018 units, Fosrich settled at $3.20 after sliding 64 cents in trading 32,650 units, General Accident closed 49 cents higher at $4.51 with 2,607,192 shares changing hands. Honey Bun gained 25 cents to close at $5.15 with 11,271 units trading, iCreate gained 2 cents to end at 42 cents with 410,100 shares crossing the exchange, Indies Pharma shed 20 cents and swapped 57,682 shares to end at $2.05. Jamaican Teas lost 4 cents trading 125,369 shares to end at $3.95, Jetcon Corporation shed 7 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 80 cents with 203,442 shares traded. Lasco Distributors closed 16 cents lower in exchanging 406,571 shares to close at $3.05, Lasco Financial finished $2.60 after losing 10 cents and swapping 18,500 units, Lasco Manufacturing fell by 2 cents to $3.85 with 9,950 units changing hands. Limners and Bards slipped 1 cent after exchanging 9,144 units to end at $1.79, Lumber Depot closed 3 cents lower at $1.11 with 33,771 stock units trading, MailPac Group traded 210,434 shares to settle at $1.65 after losing 2 cents. Main Event rose 25 cents to end at $4.50 with the ownership transfer of 8,264 shares, Paramount was down 4 cents to $1.95 with 16,434 units traded, SSL Venture slipped 13 cents and exchanged 204 units to end at 75 cents and tTech lost 2 cents to close at $4.73 with a mere 54 units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Enthusiasm missing from Junior Market

Investors were less enthusiastic about trading Junior Market stocks on Thursday and exchanged just 27 securities accounting for 2,370,191 units valued at $6,835,545, down from 2,851,105 units valued at $9,931,668 from 32 securities on Wednesday.
Rising and declining stocks were evenly spread at ten each, with six ending unchanged. At the close with the index, adding a mere 9.28 points to close at 2,369.78 and only partially reversed the 36.90 points fall on Wednesday and the market’s PE ratio closed at 8.7 times 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average volume that is well below recent norms and finished with only 87,785 units at $253,168 for each security, in contrast to 89,097 units for an average of $310,365 on Wednesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 145,417 units valued at $376,592 and previously 232,941 units valued at $419,118. In contrast, April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows five stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and five with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Blue Power finished 10 cents higher at $3.64 with 45,200 stock units traded, Caribbean Cream fell 18 cents to settle at a 52 weeks’ low of $1.82 with an exchange of 14,355 shares, Caribbean Producers shed 10 cents in the swapping of 433,307 units to end at $2.30. Elite Diagnostic closed trading of 9,000 units and gained 11 cents to finish at $3.11, Express Catering gained one cent to end at $3.36, swapping 10,511 shares in the process, Fontana climbed 17 cents and exchanged 63,877 shares to settle at $5.07. General Accident closed 2 cents higher at $4.02 with 779,926 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun declined 10 cents in trading of 84,000 units to finish at $4.90, iCreate fell 4 cents to 40 cents with 29,297 units crossing the exchange. Indies Pharma shed 13 cents in the exchange of 29,379 units to close at $2.25, ISP Finance closed 9 cents higher at $15.99, with 500 stock units traded, Jetcon Corporation gained one cent to end at 87 cents, after swapping 125,336 shares. Lasco Distributors closed trading of 40,920 units and gained 21 cents to end at $3.21, Lasco Financial rose 10 cents to $2.70 with an exchange of 500 shares, Lasco Manufacturing declined 7 cents to settle at $3.87 in trading 3,000 units. Limners and Bards slipped one cent to $1.80 with 246,685 stock units changing hands, Lumber Depot climbed 9 cents and exchanged 62,061 shares to close at $1.14, MailPac Group ended with a loss of one cent at $1.67 with 340,725 stock units traded. Main Event transferred 18,100 shares to close at $4.25 after falling 64 cents and Paramount Trading ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.99 with 900 stock units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Junior Market sinks 37 points – Wednesday

The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator at the close of Tuesday with negative readings suggesting more losses for the Junior Market on Wednesday on top of the 24.14 points fall on Tuesday. The market sank 36.90 points at the close of the trading day to 2,360.50.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading on Wednesday was better than the three to one reading the day before with four stocks now just ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and just one with a lower offer.
At the close of market activities, 32 securities changed hands, leading to the prices of seven securities advancing, 18 declining and seven stocks remained unchanged. Trading resulted in an exchange of 2,851,105 units valued at $9,931,668 compared to 8,459,553 units valued at $18,358,765 from 31 securities on Tuesday. The market’s PE ratio closed at 8.8 times 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 89,097 units valued at $310,365 for each security traded, in contrast to 272,889 units for an average of $592,218 on Tuesday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 232,941 units valued at $419,118 and previously 200,478 units valued at $455,751. In contrast, April closed with an average of 447,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, Access Financial lost 10 cents to end at $22 in the trading of 4,800 shares, Blue Power closed 34 cents higher at $3.54 with the swapping of 51,496 stock units, Caribbean Assurance Brokers slipped 1 cent to $2.18 with an exchange of 1,500 units. Caribbean Cream ended with a loss of 1 cent at $2 with 37,713 stock units changing hands, Derrimon Trading shed 10 cents in trading 40,000 units to finish at $1.80, Elite Diagnostic dropped 55 cents to $3 with 130,715 units crossing the exchange. Everything Fresh shed 9 cents in the trading 13,500 units to settle at 71 cents, Express Catering exchanged 44,486 shares and gained 1 cent to finish at $3.35, Fontana ended market activity 39 cents lower at $4.90 with 248,422 shares changing hands. Fosrich declined 1 cent to settle at $3.84 with 22,637 stock units traded, General Accident lost 43 cents in the exchange of 1,002,770 units to close at $4, Honey Bun dived $1 to $5 with 158,100 shares changing hands. Jamaican Teas fell 19 cents in the trading of 182,641 units to end at $3.99, Jetcon Corporation shed 19 cents to finish at 86 cents with 249,280 shares exchanged, Knutsford Express climbed $1.77 to settle at $8.98 with 103 shares changing hands. Lasco Distributors fell 5 cents in the trading 37,489 units to close at $3, Lasco Financial lost 10 cents to settle at $2.60 trading 11,650 units, Lasco Manufacturing slipped 5 cents to $3.94 with an exchange of 10,010 shares. Limners and Bards finished at $1.81 after falling 9 cents and swapping 24,994 shares, Lumber Depot lost 4 cents in the exchange of 122,067 units to settle at $1.05, Medical Disposables closed trading of 98,399 units and gained 31 cents to end at $6.30. Paramount Trading gained 2 cents to end at $2 with 34,000 units changing hands, SSL Venture climbed 15 cents and traded 3,392 shares to close at 88 cents and Stationery and Office Supplies dipped 25 cents to $6.05 with 29,131 units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

More Junior Market decline – Tuesday

The Junior Market ends Tuesday down 24.14 points to close at 2,397.40 as 31 securities changed hands with the prices of 12 securities rising, 13 declining and five remaining unchanged.
IC bid-offer Indicator| The market closed with negative sentiments, with the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading showing just one stock ending with the bid higher than the last selling price and seven with lower offers.
The day’s activities ended with, resulting in an exchange of 8,459,553 units valued at $18,358,764 compared to 3,914,568 units valued at $10,441,625 from 31 securities on Monday.
Trading closed with an average of 272,889 units at $592,218 for each security traded in contrast to 126,276 units for an average of $336,827 on Monday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 200,478 units valued at $455,751 and previously 165,404 units valued at $389,650. In contrast, April closed with an average of 44,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
At the close of the market, Access Financial dropped $3.90 in trading 200 shares to settle at $22.10, AMG Packaging added 1 cent to close at $1.66 with 37,605 stock units exchanged, Blue Power declined by 55 cents in the swapping of 44,143 units to end at $3.20. Caribbean Cream rose 1 cent in exchanging 50,000 shares to close at $2.01, Caribbean Producers declined by 11 cents to settle at $2.40 in the swapping of 250,367 shares, Derrimon Trading fell 2 cents to $1.90 with an exchange of 115,538 units. Express Catering ended with a loss of 1 cent at $3.34 with 6,229 stock units changing hands, Fontana closed 29 cents higher after trading 233,655 shares to end at $5.29, Fosrich lost 4 cents in the exchange of 1,500 shares to settle at $3.85. General Accident closed trading of 1,241,712 units and gained 27 cents to end at $4.43, Honey Bun finished 5 cents higher at $6 with 120,638 units changing hands, iCreate ended the day at 44 cents, after gaining 2 cents and exchanging 68,754 stock units. Indies Pharma closed trading of 25,051 units and gained 19 cents to end at $2.38, Iron Rock Insurance dropped 48 cents to $2.16 in the swapping of 7,966 shares, Jamaican Teas climbed 2 cents and exchanged 35,234 shares to settle at $4.18. Knutsford Express shed $1.78 in trading of 25,134 units to finish at $7.21, Lasco Distributors closed 5 cents higher at $3.05, with 146,146 stock units crossing the exchange, Lasco Financial picked up 30 cents, exchanging 1,000 shares to end at $2.70. Lasco Manufacturing slipped 1 cent to $3.99 with 33,640 stock units changing hands, Limners and Bards dipped 3 cents in trading of 55,556 units to end at $1.90, Lumber Depot shed 5 cents in the swapping of 385,452 units to close at $1.09. MailPac Group climbed 1 cent to $1.68 after an exchange of 5,104,090 shares, Main Event jumped by $1.02 to settle at $4.89 with 1,100 shares changing hands, Paramount Trading lost 2 cents in trading 135 units to close at $1.98 and SSL Venture declined by 19 cents to settle at 73 cents with 396,000 stock units crossing the exchange.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

JSE Junior Market slips on Monday

Trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday lifted the market index to more than 2,445 points just a few points on Friday’s close, but the market could not build on the early momentum and ended the day with a modest loss of 11.90 points to close at 2,421.54.
At the close of market activities with 31 securities changed hands, with the prices of 12 securities advanced, 12 declined and seven remained unchanged and the average PE of Junior Market. Stocks ended at 8.9 times 2020-21 earnings. Trading ended, resulting in an exchange of 3,914,568 units valued at $10,441,625 compared to 6,671,271 units valued at $14,495,961 on Friday.
Trading ended with an average of 126,276 units at $336,827 for each security trading in contrast to 202,160 units for an average of $439,272 on Friday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 165,404 units valued at $389,650 and previously 150,098 units valued at $541,417. Trading in April closed with an average of 44,863 units valued at $1,028,076 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows six stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close of the market, Access Financial gained 1 cent to end at $26 in trading 4,000 shares, AMG Packaging dipped 10cents in trading of 2,505 units at $1.65, Carib Assurance Brokers exchanged 91,717 shares and fell 1 cent to close at $2.19. Caribbean Cream closed with a loss of 15cents at $2, after the swapping of 550,000 shares, Caribbean Producers closed 1 cent higher at $2.51, with 257,834 stock units trading, Consolidated Bakeries gained 18 cents to end at $1.69, transferring 644 units. Derrimon Trading declined by 9cents to settle at $1.92, Fontana fell by 28 cents in trading 395,419 units at $5, General Accident lost 33cents in trading of 440,645 units at $4.16, GWest Corporation ended with 1,000 shares crossing through the market, after rising 2 cents to end at 90 cents. Honey Bun closed trading of 3,726 units and gained 15 cents to settle at $5.95, iCreate dipped 4 cents in trading of 282,100 units at 42 cents. Indies Pharma shed 21cents in transferring 25,044 units at $2.19. Iron Rock Insurance closed trading of 88,386 units and gained 54 cents to end at $2.64, Jamaican Teas climbed 14 cents and exchanged 253,859 shares at $4.16, Jetcon Corporation closed 19 cents higher at $1.05, with 29,000 stock units trading. Knutsford Express ended trading with 4,906 shares, after rising 49 cents to end at $8.99. Lasco Distributors closed with 66,146 shares, after rising 2 cents to end at $3, Lasco Financial closed market activity trading 15,365 shares to close at $2.40 after shedding 30 cents. Lasco Manufacturing closed 33 cents higher at $4, with 34,040 stock units trading, Limners and Bards ended market activity exchanging 225,138 shares to close at $1.93, after falling by 2 cents, Lumber Depot ended with a loss of 1 cent at $1.14 with 193,918 stock units changing hands. MailPac Group finished with a loss of 1 cent at $1.67 with an exchange742,719 stock units and tTech gained $1.04 to end at$4.75 in trading 400 shares.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.

Just two IC TOP 10 changes

The week just ended saw investors knocking bank stocks down following the surprise announcement by Bank of Jamaica to get banks to suspend the payment of dividends for the remainder of 2020 and that helped to push the market index sharply lower with some recovery on the last three days of the week.
Caribbean Cement and NCB Financial released first-quarter results in the past week with lower profit than the previous year’s March quarter. As if investors expected the outturn, the stock prices did not seem to react to them.
The Junior Market, after attempting to close higher for the past six days finally did so on Friday a sign that it could be heading higher in the days ahead as it traded as high as 2,478 points on Friday just below the close on April 16.
 The Junior and Main Market, IC Insider.com TOP 10 closed the week with one change each. Dropping from the list are Access Financial Services for the Junior Market and replaced by Stationery and Office Supplies, while Stanley Motta dropped from the Main Market listing and replaced by Victoria Mutual Investments.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 344 to 660 percent by 2021 are Caribbean Producers leading, followed by Lasco Financial and KLE Group. In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica continues to lead, followed by Berger Paints and JMMB Group, with projected gains of 173 to 213 percent.
This week’s focus: Stationery and Office Supplies fell from a high of $16.35 last august is now trading at a discount of 61.5 percent to that price. The stock had moved from $6.85 in May last year to the high after revenues climbed by 23 percent for the half-year to $639 million to $519 million and profits rose 63 percent from $56 million to $92 million. The half years revenues compare favourably with the $702 million generated in the twelve months in 2016, the year before listing in 2017. Revenues grew around 12 percent from 2013 to 2016, then increased to 17.4 percent for 2018 and 14.5 percent for 2019. The company has an excellent management team that is growth-oriented as such investors can look forward to revenues growing in the 15-20 percent range going forward. In pursuit of this objective, the company is putting in place additional storage facilities to accommodate a robust expansion of sales. Investors should not rule out the possibility that they could expand from acquisitions as well as was the case with the addition of the business making the SEEK brand. While the disruption caused by the Coronavirus could derail the medium-term growth, it will only be a matter of time for management to pick up and return to the pre virus growth levels.
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 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 12.5 and the Junior Market a mere 9, based on current 2020-21 earnings. The PE ratio for Junior Market Top 10 stocks averages a mere 5.3 with the Main Market at a much higher level of 8.3.
The TOP 10 stocks now trade at a discount of 43 percent of the average for Junior Market and Main Market stocks trade at a discount of 34 percent to the overall market. The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 319 percent, for the Junior Market and 148 percent for the JSE Main Market, based on 2020-21 earnings.
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. Earnings per share are revised on an ongoing basis when new information is received that can affect earnings significantly.

Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.

Junior Market holds Fridays’ gains

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange finally broke the stranglehold that kept it from rising above previous days’ close for the past three trading days to close on Friday with gains of 26.02 points in the market index at 2433.44 after trading as high as 2,478.48 points in Friday’s early session.
Trading on the concluded with 33 securities changing hands, resulting in an exchange of 6,671,271 units valued at $14,495,961, compared to 5,285,092 units valued at $16,777,095 on Thursday.
At the close of market activities, the prices of 15 securities advanced, 13 declined and five remained unchanged. The market’s PE ratio closed at 8.7 times 2020-21 earnings.
Trading ended with an average of 202,160 units for $439,272 for each security, in contrast to 165,159 units at an average of $524,284 on Thursday. In contrast, April closed with an average of 568,732 units valued at $3,447,957 for each security traded.
IC bid-offer Indicator| At the end of trading, the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading shows four stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and one with a lower offer.
At the close of the market, Access Financial Services gained 1 cent to end at $25.99, trading 90 shares, AMG Packaging closed trading of 5,057 units and gained 10 cents to end at $1.75, Blue Power closed 35 cents higher at $3.75, with an exchange of 26,362 stock units. Caribbean Assurance Brokers traded 88,627 shares, losing 8 cents and closed at $2.20, Caribbean Cream climbed 15 cents and exchanged 1,376,796 shares at $2.15, Caribbean Flavours closed with a loss of 98 cents at $9, after hitting a 52 weeks’ intraday low of $8 in swapping 5,633 shares. Caribbean Producers shed 20 cents in transferring 1,082,082 units at $2.50, Consolidated Bakeries lost 25 cents trading of 2,500 units at $1.51, Derrimon Trading shed 19 cents in exchanging 99,326 shares at $2.01, Elite Diagnostic closed 15 cents lower in trading of 14,617 units at $3.55. Everything Fresh closed 2 cents higher at 80 cents, with 28,697 stock units changing hands, Express Catering gained 10 cents to settle at $3.35, with 29,227 stock units traded, Fontana dipped 6 cents in trading of 246,424 units at $5.28. Fosrich lost 11 cents in an exchange of 1,102 units at $3.89, GWest Corporation ended with a loss of 1 cent at 88 cents with 16,863 stock units changing hands, Honey Bun closed with 137,950 units crossing the exchange and gained 31 cents, to end at $5.80. Indies Pharma closed with 4,940 units trading and gained 4 cents to end at $2.40, Iron Rock Insurance closed 5 cents higher at $2.10, with 100,000 stock units trading, Jamaican Teas ended market activity transferring 204,425 shares to close at $4.02, after falling 2 cents. Jetcon Corporation shed 16 cents in exchanging 21,867 units to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 86 cents after hitting a low of 80 cents during trading, Lasco Distributors closed trading of 254,571 units and rose 13 cents to settle at $2.98, Lasco Manufacturing declined by 13 cents in transferring of 16,117 units at $3.67. Limners and Bards climbed 9 cents and exchanged 4,000 shares at $1.95, Lumber Depot ended trading with 646,793 shares, after rising 3 cents to end at $1.15, Main Event closed trading of 746 units and gained 6 cents to end at $3.87. Medical Disposables declined 46 cents to settle at $5.99, Stationery and Office Supplies closed trading of 5,000 units and gained 25 cents to end at $6.30 and SSL Venture closed with 12,841 units exchanged and gained 2 cents to close at 92 cents.

Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.