The number of securities trading rose above Tuesday’s level but the volume of stocks plunged 58 percent and the value 70 percent below Tuesday’s as market activity ended Wednesday, with the Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market with the market indices recording modest gains at the close as the Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator was flashing one of the strongest short term bull signals for some time.
The All Jamaican Composite Index rose 103.47 points to 446,780.08, the Main Index advanced 325.79 points to 407,088.10 and JSE Financial Index popped 0.03 points to end at 98.91.
Trading ended with 54 securities up from 50 on Tuesday, with just 13 rising, 26 declining and 15 ending unchanged.
The PE Ratio, a measure used in computing appropriate stock values, averages 15.7 based on ICInsider.com forecast of 2021-22 earnings.
At the close, 5,205,273 shares traded for $57,933,745 versus 12,260,493 units at $193,948,042 on Tuesday. Wigton Windfarm led trading with 53.1 percent of total volume for an exchange of 2.76 million shares followed by Mayberry Investments 10.1 percent, with 526,081 units and Mayberry Jamaican Equities 4.5 percent, with 233,952 shares.
Trading averages 96,394 units at $1,072,847, compared to 245,210 shares at $3,878,961 on Tuesday and the month to date averages 371,981 units at $3,990,142, compared to 402,106 units at $4,309,037 on Tuesday. August closed with an average of 480,039 units at $8,561,549.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows sixteen stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close, Barita Investments shed 55 cents in closing at $89.95 in an exchange of 12,190 shares, Berger Paints gained 49 cents to end at $13.50 with a transfer of 174 stock units, Caribbean Cement rallied 90 cents to $104.90 after 6,490 stocks cleared the market. First Rock Capital popped 81 cents to $12.50 with 140 units trading, GraceKennedy slipped 34 cents to $101.65 with the swapping of 79,226 stocks, Guardian Holdings dropped $12 to $595 in switching ownership of 982 stock units. Jamaica Broilers fell $2 to $28 in transferring 29,152 shares, Jamaica Producers advanced $2 to $23.50 in trading 300 units, Jamaica Stock Exchange rose 27 cents to $17.45 with an exchange of 2,149 stock units. JMMB Group lost 26 cents to close at $35.74 with 97,125 shares clearing the market, Kingston Properties lost 40 cents to $9.84 after 230 units crossed the market, Kingston Wharves fell $1 to $46.50 in exchanging 5,938 stocks. Palace Amusement dropped $70 to $930 with the swapping of 43 units, PanJam Investment declined $3 to $62 with an exchange of 3,316 stock units, Proven Investments shed $1.54 to close at $31.06 after trading 6,000 stocks. 
Sagicor Group slipped $1 to $53 in exchanging 17,365 shares, Scotia Group shed 96 cents to end at $38.60 after a transfer of 68,535 stocks, Seprod declined $2 to $64 with an exchange of 5,832 units. Supreme Ventures fell 50 cents to $18 in switching ownership of 241 shares, Sygnus Credit Investments dipped 33 cents to $15.37 in trading 9,182 stock units.
In the preference segment, Community & Workers Credit Union popped 25 cents to $1.85 in exchanging 1,400 units and Eppley 7.25 climbed $3 to $23 with 1 stock crossing the exchange.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
A total of 50 securities traded, up from 47 on Monday, with 19 stocks rising, 21 declining and 10 ending unchanged. The All Jamaican Composite Index lost 2,373.95 points to 446,676.61, the Main Index fell 1,989.08 points to settle at 406,762.31 and the JSE Financial Index fell 0.32 points to 98.88.
Sagicor Group lost $1 to end at $54 after exchanging 1,081,424 stock units, Scotia Group rallied $1.01 to $39.56 in an exchange of 22,570 shares, Seprod popped $1 to close at $66 with 2,078 stocks changing hands. Stanley Motta declined 60 cents to $5 after trading 48,000 units and Supreme Ventures shed 50 cents to close at $18.50, with 65,781 stock units crossing the market.
The All Jamaican Composite Index rose 42.14 points to 449,050.56, the Main Index gained 289.77 points to close at 408,751.39 and the JSE Financial Index lost 0.16 points to settle at 99.20.
Trading averages 381,055 units at $17,824,048 compared to 306,157 shares at $2,969,880 on Friday and month to date, an average of 419,775 units at $4,357,469 compared to 424,359 units at $2,763,188 on Friday. August ended with an average of 480,039 units at $8,561,549.
Scotia Group fell 95 cents to $38.55 after trading 42,199 stock units. Supreme Ventures spiked 90 cents to $19, with 42,264 shares crossing the market and Sygnus Credit Investments advanced 63 cents to $15.79 after 88,609 stock units crossed the exchange.
The market closed with 13,470,929 shares trading for $130,674,709 versus 12,534,457 units at $121,087,956 on Thursday. Pulse Investments led trading with 36.6 percent of total volume after trading 4.93 million shares, followed by Transjamaican Highway 22.5 percent, with 3.03 million units and Wigton Windfarm 13.1 percent, with 1.76 million units changing hands.
Trading ended with 44 securities compared to 51 on Thursday, with 21 stocks rising, 13 declining and 10 ending unchanged.
Pulse Investments rose 58 cents in closing at $4.10 with 4,934,043 shares crossing the market. Scotia Group rallied 50 cents to $39.50 in exchanging 38,983 stocks, Seprod spiked 50 cents to $65 with the swapping of 176,170 units, Supreme Ventures popped 55 cents to $18.10 with 34,730 stock units crossing the market and Sygnus Credit Investments fell 53 cents to $15.16 in trading 43,083 shares.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 2,742.24 points to close at 448,496.34, the Main Index declined 2,069.01 points to 408,308.74 and the JSE Financial Index shed 0.53 points to end 99.08.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows ten stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
PanJam Investment increased $2 to end at $64 in an exchange of 2,877 shares, Pulse Investments dropped 36 cents to $3.52 after exchanging 4,085,000 stock units, Sagicor Group fell $1 to $55 while exchanging 24,140 stocks. Scotia Group popped 49 cents in closing at $39 with an exchange of 832,069 shares after the price hit a 52 weeks’ intraday low of $38 and Supreme Ventures shed 55 cents to close at $17.55, trading 9,281 units.
August closed with an average of 480,039 units at $8,561,549.
Sagicor Group advanced $1 to $56 in transferring 6,908 stock units, Scotia Group declined $1.47 to $38.51 with the swapping of 42,386 units, Seprod fell 67 cents to $64.33 with 1,336 shares crossing the market and Sygnus Credit Investments shed 55 cents to $15.50 in exchanging 53,421 stocks.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 197.40 points to 453,152.75, the Main Index shed 135.29 points to end at 411,889.76 and the JSE Financial Index popped 0.10 points to settle at 100.30.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows nine stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
Seprod climbed 25 cents to end at $65, with 6,168 units clearing the market, Supreme Ventures rose 30 cents to $18.10 with the swapping of 155,281 stock units and Sygnus Credit Investments rallied 39 cents to $16.05 after trading 142,871 units.
Trading averages 500,714 units at $4,373,298 compared to 324,126 shares at $1,508,952 on Friday and month to date, an average of 292,789 units at $2,102,896, compared to 228,400 units at $1,399,804 on Friday. August closed with an average of 480,039 units at $8,561,549.
NCB Financial spiked $2 to $130 in trading 1,002,106 shares, PanJam Investment lost $1 to close at $62 in an exchange of 18,348 stocks, Pulse Investments popped advanced 27 cents to $3.80 after exchanging 2,998,236 units. Radio Jamaica jumped 68 cents to $3.85, trading 670,770 units, Sagicor Group popped $2.39 to $57.39 after trading 52,177 stocks, Scotia Group gained 50 cents in ending at $40, with 665,109 shares crossing the exchange. Seprod rallied $1.26 to $64.75, trading 11,304 stock units and Sygnus Credit Investments declined 64 cents to $15.66, trading 74,497 shares.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading has ten stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and four stocks with lower offers.
Sagicor Group fell $1 to $55 with the swapping of 64,105 shares, Salada Foods lost 24 cents in closing at $7.01 after 49,882 stock units crossed the market, Seprod shed $1.50 to settle at $63.49 with 13,866 stocks changing hands, Supreme Ventures lost 28 cents to close at $17.77 in trading 23,689 shares and Wigton Windfarm lost 3 cents to close at a 52 weeks’ low of 50 cents, trading 6,607,371 stocks, as investors continue to desert the stock.
Wigton price collapses
Wigton Windfarms’ shares traded below the IPO price of 50 cents on Friday as attempts to shield the price from falling after announcing a drop in revenues is finally giving way to selling pressure. The Wigton syndrome continues to plaque the Jamaica Stock market with irrational behavior of investors to be seen in the prices of many stocks.
Wigton traded nearly 90% of shares on Thursday.
On August 25, investors bought 5 million shares of Future Energy, up to $2.85 and for the next two trading day’s they just over 10 million units up to $3.29, with 15 million shares trading on the 30th at an average of $2.96. The stock is now trading at $2.04, with a PE ratio of 16, to be one of the more highly priced Junior Market stocks. What is happening here, when viewed against stocks with much lower PEs and good growth prospects?
There are thousands of new investors in the market brought on by several new listings on the market, with most listings creating good returns in a relatively short time for early investors.
Radio Jamaica another stock that traded as high as $4.65 on August 25, traded on Friday at $3.11 at a PE ratio of 7. Salada Foods continues to trade around the $7 region at a PE ratio of 43 times current year’s earnings. Wigton Windfarms that investors were not informed until late last year that the contract for their number 2 turbine provide for a reduction in rates for the supplying of electricity to JPS, belatedly traded down to 46 cents on Friday with few bids left in the system, and now trades at a PE of 12.5.
The stock market is a wonderful creation that has helped to enrich participants over the years, like any endeavor the more time spent studying and understanding it the better off those investors will be.
In the past, investors and scholars developed systems and methods to act as a guide to better investment decisions and thus reduce the love or dislike for a stock or other types of investments and thus reduce emotional decisions.
Technical analysis is a very useful tool used in the investment arena that carries coded messages for persons who understand them. They help investors to avoid excessive behavior in markets and telegraph future trends by using past market movements as the base.
The recent price movements for Radio Jamaica and Fesco show them breaking out of a channel that goes back for months, both companies released results that were price movers and both broke out, with the market not fully there as yet as prices moved too far too fast as such prices pulled back.
A few months after Wigton shares were listed in 2019, ICINsider.com wrote a piece to help investors better understand stock market behavior and prevent losses in the market. The piece captioned “Wigton price dreamers” was published in May of 2019. In light of the irrational trading in Fesco and Salada shares, elements of the article are highlighted below.
Salada Foods traded at a all-time high of $18 on Tuesday.
“Buy now, Ride the $3 wave”. That is the advice of one online investor to another, regarding the likely performance of the Wigton Windfarm stock after trading, on the first day of listing at 83 cents with a PE of 14, placing the value in the upper half of the most valued main market stocks. The premium over net asset value another measure of valuation is 291 percent above the net asset value. At $3, the stock would trade at a stunningly high PE ratio of 50 times 2019 and 2020 earnings. The only main market stock close to that valuation is Kingston Wharves (KW) at 35 times 2019 earnings and that is coming down from more than 50 times 2018 earnings when it traded at $85.
Unlike KW, which has less than 10 percent of the shareholding that will trade, amounting to a few million units, Wigton has billion of shares that will trade. The high liquidity of the shares almost ensures that they will not become overvalued.
Most investors who would be big buyers are more professional and are versed in the valuation levels of stocks. Accordingly, they are unlikely to be buying a stock that has doubtful expansion credentials at an inflated value. The most popular valuation tool, the PE ratio does not support a price much higher than $1.20, with EPS of 60 cents per share. A price of $1.20 equates to a high PE ratio of 20. Only a few stocks are valued close to this multiple and many of them have prospects for profits to grow. Wigton has no immediate prospects for growth in earnings, pricing it at 20 times EPS would therefore be unwise. The market will speak but the heavy selling on Friday when it first traded is more in line with the thinking that the top is not far off. Investors who buy shares above the accepted market norm will likely get crushed.
In the investment world staying close to the crowd with pricing is a prudent investment practice that tends to be less costly than trying to predict lofty heights for stocks to reach.
PE ratios are there to give a sense of appropriate values, when investors try to break away from where the bulk of investors place a value of a stock, they usually end up regret the move.