The Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange ended on Monday, with the major market indices jumping for a third consecutive day even as the volume of stocks traded declined marginally by 6 percent and the value climbed 16 percent more than on Friday, with trading in 56 securities compared with 58 on Friday, resulting in the prices of 16rising, 21 falling and 19 ending unchanged.
A total of 16,376,768 shares were traded for $130,799,765 compared to 17,423,772 units at $113,062,974 on Friday.
Trading averaged 292,442 shares at $2,335,710 compared to 300,410 shares at $1,949,362 on Friday and month to date, an average of 307,066 units at $2,129,655, compared to 308,048 units at $2,115,819 on the previous trading day. June closed with an average of 366,795 units at $6,952,581, including trading in bonds.
Transjamaican Highway led trading with 6.29 million shares for 38.4 percent of total volume, followed by JMMB Group 7.35% – 2028 with 1.93 million units for 11.8 percent of the day’s trade, Carreras was next with 1.55 million units for 9.5 percent market share, Wigton Windfarm closed with 1.48 million units for 9.1 percent of the day’s trades and QWI Investments with 1.26 million units for 7.7 percent of total volume.
The All Jamaican Composite Index gained 2,921.07 points to finish at 365,438.57, the JSE Main Index popped 1,479.39 points to 329,347.01 and the JSE Financial Index rose 0.25 points to 73.02.
The PE Ratio, a formula used to compute appropriate stock values, averages 13.1 for the Main Market. The JSE Main and USD Market PE ratios are calculated based on the last traded prices and earnings forecasts by ICInsider.com for companies with the financial year ending up to August 2024.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows 12 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and five with lower offers.
At the close, Barita Investments dipped $1.50 to $74.50 after trading 9,979 shares, Caribbean Cement jumped $7.46 in closing at $57.49, with 169,426 units crossing the market, Caribbean Producers climbed 70 cents to close at $11.47, with 81,091 stocks crossing the exchange, Guardian Holdings shed $25 and ended at $430 after it closed with an exchange of 261 stock units, Jamaica Producers increased 50 cents to end at $20.50 after a transfer of 25,601 units, Key Insurance lost 43 cents and ended at $2.51, with stakeholders exchanging 39,760 stock units, Kingston Wharves fell 55 cents to end at $29.25 after an exchange of 531 shares, Massy Holdings dropped 50 cents in closing at $98 after exchanging 12,898 stocks, Mayberry Investments advanced 33 cents to close at $8.49 while exchanging 591 stock units, NCB Financial declined 99 cents to $74 with investors transferring 809,369 units, Seprod dipped $1.10 and ended at $73 after 1,514 shares crossed the market, Supreme Ventures popped 50 cents in closing at $27.99 with a transfer of 5,700 stocks, Sygnus Credit Investments rallied $1.20 to $12.37 in an exchange of 84,056 stocks and Victoria Mutual Investments declined 37 cents to end at $3 in trading 319,190 units.
In the preference segment, Productive Business 10.50% preference share gained $272.50 to close at $1,250 as investors exchanged four shares, Jamaica Public Service 7% dropped $8.80 to close at $61.20 with 403 stock units clearing the market, Productive Business Solutions 9.75% preference share shed $2 after it ended at $100 in switching ownership of 571 units and Transjamaican Highway 8% fell 65 cents to $2.40 with shareholders swapping 436 stocks.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Major price changes for ICTOP10
The past week was one of contrast, with the Main Market rising and the Junior Market declining moderately, as the ICOP10 stocks recorded mixed results ranging from increases of 21 percent and losses of as much as 12 percent, at the same time, Transjamacian Highway that ended last week at $2.78, came under selling pressure on Friday and closed at $2.50 after reaching a record high of $2.88 on Monday and continues to a great buy, especially with the price pulling back.
For the week, 5 Junior Market TOP10 stocks declined and just two rose, while the Main Market ended with 5 rising and 4 declining. Image Plus closed at a record high on Friday and dropped out of the TOP10 along with Iron Rock Insurance. Everything Fresh and Elite Diagnostic replaced them, with the latter dropping to a record low of $1.55. There were no changes to the listing for the Main Market TOP10.
In the Junior Market, Image Plus having listed in January this year and never got the usual big IPO bounce, now seems to be just coming into its own, with a 20 percent jump to close the week at $2.50 after the price hit a record high of $2.60 on Friday and was followed by Caribbean Cream, up 10 percent to $4.49 as declining stocks dominated the week with iCreate dropping 12 percent to $1, followed by Dolla Financial shedding 9 percent to $2.08, with Dolphin Cove and OneonOne falling 8 percent to $15 and $1 respectively.
Guardian Holdings jumped 21 percent to $455, following changes in NCB Financial top management team, while Caribbean Producers rose 8 percent to $10.77, Sygnus Credit Investments fell 12 percent to $11.17 and Caribbean Cement slipped 9 percent to $50.03.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 6, well below the market average of 13.1. The Main Market TOP10 is projected to have an average of 256 percent, to May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
The 14 most highly valued Main Market stocks representing 30 percent of the Main Market are priced at a PE of 15 to 98, with an average of 30 and 20 excluding the highest PE ratios, with a PE of 23 for the top half and 18 excluding the stocks with the highest PEs.
The Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 5.6 compared with the market at 11.1. There are 9 stocks representing 19 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 41, averaging 21 that are well above the average of the market. The top half of the market has an average PE of 16, possibly the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks currently and projected to rise by 264 percent to May 2024.
The divergence between the average PE ratio of the Main and Junior Markets and the overall market valuation are important indicators of the level of likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks.
Investors continue to nibble away at a number of stocks and gradually reducing the supply of several of them that are attractively priced as the market moves through the summer months, the start of the stock market year when new results will be coming to the market for investors to assess and determine what to do.
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.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to the end of May 2024 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 and result 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.
Transjamaican out of ICTOP10
With a continually rising price, Transjamacian Highway rose 11 percent during the week to $2.78, up 57 percent since added to the Market Watch list in April and dropped out of the TOP10 this past week, while Everything Fresh closed at $1.60 and dropped out of the Junior Market TOP10.
The Main Market continues to struggle and closed at its lowest level since the end of August 2018 based on the All Jamaica Composite Index that is down 10.7 percent for the year to date, to be highly oversold. The Junior Market fell sharply on Friday as the market pulled back from the 4,000 mark level with a modest fall year to date thus reversing last week’s positive outcome.
The Junior Market is still up 10 percent since the low in March and is currently on a big bull run over the coming months, signalled by two indicators. The Main Market is likely bottoming after the traditional sell off in May before settling off in the early summer ahead of a rebound later. The action is now with the Junior Market with more potential for growth.
For the week, 6 stocks declined and only one rose on the Junior Market and the Main Market ended with two rising and seven declining, with Caribbean Cement coming into the Main Market TOP10 and Caribbean Assurance Brokers returning to the Junior Market TOP10.
In the Junior Market, iCreate dropped 12 percent to $1.14, followed by a 10 percent decline in Caribbean Cream to $4.07, before the company released first quarter results showing marked improvements in some critical areas that lead to increased profit. Dolla Financial shed 6 percent to $2.28 after posting improved Q2 results over 2022, with profit almost doubling to $105 million and the half year climbing 92 percent to $227 million. Image Plus fell 5 percent to $2.09 following first quarter results that showed profit falling from $88 million pretax to $64 million as revenues were up 6.8 percent to $300 million. Administrative costs climbed 29 percent to $117 million.
Everything Fresh remained at $1.60, but that was all it needed to drop out of the TOP10 as Caribbean Assurance Brokers slipped from $3.30 to close at $3.09 to return to the TOP10.
While Transjamaican was the highest mover in the Main Market with the most significant change during the week and had much more room to run, Guardian Holdings declined 10 percent to $377, while Caribbean Producers fell 9 percent to $10, with all other price changes being 3 percent or less.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 6, well below the market average of 13.2. The Main Market TOP10 is projected to have an average of 264 percent, by May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
The 14 most highly valued Main Market stocks are priced at a PE of 15 to 110, with an average of 31 and 21 excluding the highest PE stocks, 23 for the top half and 18 excluding the stocks with the highest PEs.
The Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 5.6 compared with the market at 11.4. There are 11 stocks representing 23 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 44, averaging 20, well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 16, possibly the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks currently, and projected to rise by 259 percent by May 2024.
The divergence between the average PE ratio of the Main and Junior Markets and the overall market valuation are important indicators of the likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks.
In the market generally, Investors continue to nibble away at a number of stocks and, in the process, gradually reducing the supply of several of them that are attractively priced as the market moves through the summer months, the start of the stock market year, when new results will be coming to the market for investors to assess and determine what to do.
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.
IC TOP10 stocks will likely deliver the best returns up to the end of May 2024 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.