ISP now leads the top 10 stock predictions for the rest 2017 for junior market companies, according to John Jackson of IC Insider.com in his address to the JSE Capital Markets Conference, last week.
Jackson presented his TOP 10 listings of both junior and main market companies with Barita Investments heading the main market stocks, that should be the best performing stock for the rest of 2017.
“There are some potential good winners in the list. I am not saying that all will necessarily be winners but I expect to see some spectacular performances,” he told the conference at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston on Thursday.
Overall the price to earnings ratio (PE) for the junior market will climb but still offer value for money, he said.
“PEs at 20 times earnings will become the norm, once interest rates remain low. I am quite positive that they will. Based on what is happening now on the economic front, interest rates are going to go even lower, along with stability in the exchange rate,” he said.

Few stocks however are trading at 30 and 40 times earnings. Those stocks need to be viewed with some amount caution with the average market PE well below these levels.
The gains in 2017 will come from strong earnings and investor demand pushing the price up even higher. Jackson said that the main changes in the market for 2016 over 2015 were the rising PE multiples.
“Things have substantially changed. The PE has risen with the average for the junior market at 15 and the main market is 11 to 12 times earnings based on 2016 earnings. It was about six times earnings a year ago,” he said.
The junior market has been running at roughly twice the pace of the main market. That has gone on for some time due to the fast growth nature of the junior companies, he said.