The Junior and Main Market, IC Insider.com TOP 10 closed the week with Medical Disposables and Stationery and Office Supplies returning the TOP 10, after a week’s absence as they replaced CAC2000 and Elite Diagnostic.
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.
During the past week, investors pushed the Main and Junior Markets slightly higher than at the close of the previous week, but the message from the markets is that they are both in a consolidation mode as investors absorb results released during the past week.
If history is anything to go by, the market could remain in a period of consolidated until early July when it usually starts a slow recovery.
The past week saw the release of quarterly results with positive gains, the companies reporting sharp increases include Grace Kennedy, tTech, Caribbean Flavours, 138 Student Living, Eppley, Kingston Wharves and Sterling Investments.
The three top Junior Market stocks with the potential to gain between 355 to 663 percent by 2021 are Caribbean Producers, followed by KLE Group and Caribbean Cream. In the Main Market, Radio Jamaica continues to lead, followed by Berger Paints and JMMB Group with projected gains of 165 to 213 percent.
This week’s focus: Caribbean Cream released full-year results, after trading closed on Friday, with profits falling 38 percent, from $89 million to $55 million, from a 10 percent rise in revenues to $1.7 billion. Depreciation more than doubled in the year, with an increase of $63 million, to end at $115 million, negatively affecting the results for the year to February. In the final quarter, sales grew 16 percent over the similar period in 2019 and might be indicating that revenues are poised to rise above recent growth levels. If this is, in fact, the case then the company is poised for strong growth in profits going forward.
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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.
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 38 percent to the overall market. The average projected gain for the IC TOP 10 stocks is 332 percent, for the Junior Market and 144 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.
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, 
Caribbean Cream climbed 22 cents in exchange of 138,754 shares to settle at $2.51, 
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. 
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
