The Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market ended on Monday, with the JSE Main Index climbing solidly for a second day to start off the new month, with a bullish tone as the volume of stocks traded climbed 48 percent but with 31 percent lower value than that on Friday, following trading in 57 securities down from 60 on Friday, with 23 rising, 15 declining and 19 ending unchanged.
At the close, 22,921,329 shares were traded for $44,514,498 compared with 15,514,547 units at $64,737,290 on Friday.
Trading averaged 402,129 shares at $780,956, versus 258,576 units at $1,078,955 on Friday, compared with April that closed with an average of 264,549 units at $1,409,410.
Transjamaican Highway led trading with 14.96 million shares for 65.3 percent of the total volume, followed by QWI Investments with 4.29 million units for 18.7 percent of the day’s trade and Wigton Windfarm with 1.61 million units for 7 percent of the day’s trade.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dipped 203.12 points to 380,119.46, the JSE Main Index advanced 2,330.49 points to 340,412.28 and the JSE Financial Index popped 0.16 points to end at 77.78.
PE ratios are computed based on the last selling prices of stocks and earnings forecasted by ICInsider.com for companies with their financial year ending between November 2022 and August 2023.
The Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows nine stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and four with lower offers.
At the close, Carreras traded 62,960 shares and gained 25 cents in closing at $8.75, Guardian Holdings advanced $4.98 to close at $490 in an exchange of 16 shares, Kingston Properties shed 30 cents to end at $7.55 with an exchange of 12,830 stock units, Massy Holdings climbed $2 to end at $90 after an exchange of 455 units, NCBF inancial rose 50 cents to $74 11,619 stocks changing hands, investors traded just 221 shares of 138 Student Living in pushing the price by 24 cents to $5.27, Pan Jamaica Group shed $2.50 in ending at $52 and closed with 3,176 stock units changing hands, Radio Jamaica fell 40 cents in closing at $1.85 in switching ownership of 438,522 stocks, Seprod rallied $1.01 to $74.01 in trading 4,628 shares, Stanley Motta dropped 45 in closing at $5.55, with 4,906 stock units crossing the exchange, Sygnus Real Estate Finance popped 90 cents to end at $11.79 as investors exchanged 1,341 units and Wisynco Group lost 68 cents to close at $16.77, with 15,585 units clearing the market.
In the preference segment, Eppley 5% preference share gained $2 to end at $22 with an exchange of 5 shares, Eppley 7.50% preference share increased by $1.59 to end at $7.59, with 1,407 stock units crossing the market and 138 Student Living preference share climbed $7 and ended at $95 with investors transferring just one stock.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
iCreate in ICTOP10 Image Plus EPS jumps
The markets are changing, with the Main Market up for three consecutive weeks but the Junior Market meandering for the last four weeks. Against this backdrop, there was one change to the TOP10, with iCreate coming in and Dolla Financial falling out, but Dolla and Honey Bun, that slipped out the previous week, sit immediately below the TOP10.
There were no significant winners for the past week in both markets’ TOP10 as losers dominated. The Junior market had Consolidated Bakeries falling 11 percent to $2.17 and general Accident down 10 percent to $5.40 and Lasco Distributors down 3 percent, with the stock selling at just 5.5 times 2023 estimated earnings and only 8.5 times the company’s nine month results. By any stretch, the stock is considerably undervalued and there are more profits to come in the current fiscal year.
Main Market stocks had a 13 percent fall in Key Insurance after the price closed at $3.08, Berger Paints contracted by 9 percent to $7.54 and 138 Student Living slipped 5 percent to $5.03, while Jamaica Broilers rose just 3 percent to $37.
Stocks are being prepped to rally, with early signals that interest rates will be declining across the board sooner than later. This stems from the continued slide of rates on BOJ CDs since March, that saw the rate falling by 23 percent to 8.11 percent against a background where inflation since November last year is running at less than one percent per annum.
At the week’s close, Image Plus released full year results showing profit after tax jumping 125.6 percent to $213 million or 21 cents per share. ICInsider.com revised earnings for the current fiscal year to 35 cents from 30 cents previously.
The Junior Market’s long history of rising around a month before the release of quarterly results and declining shortly after results are released seems to be starting with a rise of 108 points in the market index this past week, with the supply of some stocks falling sharply.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 5.4, well below the market average of 13.8, while the Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 5.9 compared with the market at 11.6. The differences are important indicators of the level of likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks. The Junior Market is projected to rise by 257 percent and the Main Market TOP10 by an average of 280 percent to May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
The Junior Market has 11 stocks representing 23 percent of the market, with PEs from 15to 27, averaging 21, well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 17, suggesting that this may currently be the lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks.
The 18 highest valued Main Market stocks are priced at a PE of 15 to 115, with an average of 29 and 20 excluding the highest PE stocks and 20 for the top half excluding the stocks with the highest valuation.
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 2023 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.
Honey Bun rises 8% to exit ICTOP10
The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange recorded solid gains during the past week as the Main Market declined, resulting in three solid gains for the ICTOP10 Junior Market stocks and just one notable move in the performance of the ICTOP10 Main Market as General Accident added 18 percent to its value to be the best performing stock for the week.
The Junior Market had one change in the TOP10 as Honey Bun moved out for a second time in weeks with a rise of 8 percent, allowing Dolla Financial to come in at number 10. Dolla is likely to enjoy a doubling in profit for the current year, having expanded the loan portfolio dramatically since taking on the billion dollar loan. Investors in the stock can look forward to healthy gains in the stock price during the year.
Main Event, one of the previous week’s top performers that exited the Top 10 with a 6 percent gain to close at $12.95, keeps on rolling on and climbed another 13.5 percent this week to $14.70, up 63.5 percent for the year to date as investors continue to applaud the company’s performance by buying up the stocks as they see more profits to come this year, with the economy fully opened up for entertainment.
The other major price movements during the week were a 9 percent rise for Lasco Distributors, that ended at $2.36 and Honey Bun, up 8 percent to $6.57. There are only two stocks with losses of two percent or less.
In the Main Market, only three stocks recorded declines, but Berger Paints was the only stock with a meaningful move, gaining 8 percent to $8.30.
Interest rates on Bank of Jamaica CDs dipped again at this past week’s auction that, which saw the average rate slipping to 8.21 percent from 8.41 percent at the previous week’s auction. Over the past five months, inflation has been running at less than one percent per annum, which has set the stage for BOJ to act quickly to slash interest rates, a positive development for the market.
The Junior Market’s long history of rising around a month before the release of quarterly results and declining shortly after results are released seems to be starting with a rise of 108 points in the market index this past week, with the supply of some stocks falling sharply.
Honey Bun’s fall from the TOP10 Junior Market list is not the end of the road for this outstanding performer with increased investors’ interest with an expected jump in revenues and profits for the first quarter with the Easter coming at the beginning of April versus the 17th of April last year as well as improvement of gross profit margin that slipped previous year. ICInsider.com expects the price to increase by up to 200 percent this year.
At the end of the week, the average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 5.5, well below the market average of 13.7, while the Junior Market Top 10 PE sits at 5.9 compared with the market at 11.6. The differences are important indicators of the level of likely gains for ICTOP10 stocks. The Junior Market is projected to rise by 246 percent and the Main Market TOP10 by an average of 273 percent, by May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings.
The Junior Market has 13 stocks representing 27 percent of the market, with PEs from 15 to 27, averaging 19, well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 16, suggesting this may be the current lowest fair value for Junior Market stocks.
The 16 highest valued Main Market stocks are priced at a PE of 15 to 114, with an average of 31 and 21 excluding the highest PE stocks and 20 for the top half excluding the stocks with the highest valuation.
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 2023 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.