Berger heads IC TOP10 Main Market


Berger Paints still heads the IC TOP10 Main Market stocks with the potential to gain 580 percent as the company ends 2026 with less than two months to spare, hopefully unaffected by major dislocations.

During the past week the Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market closed higher, with the JSE Index closing at 387,081.20, up 1,882.17 points, 0.49 percent, from the the close of 385,199.03 a week earlier and 69,094.32 points, up by 21.73 percent, higher than the 2025 close of 317,986.88. ICTOP10 selection, 138 Student Living led the winners for the week with a gain of 44.19 percent, followed by Sagicor Select Manufacturing and Distribution Fund at 20.83 percent.
Looking forward, the ICInsider.com ICTOP10 forecast for Main Market stocks for 2026 to 2027 puts Berger Paints atop the list at 580 percent, well ahead of the rest of the field, with the company expected to record a major bounce in revenues and profit above the hurricane Melissa-battered 2025 results. JMMB Group is second at 431 percent and Sygnus Credit Investments is third at 418 percent flowing from a solid bounce in its 2026 profits compared with 2025 results. Sygnus Credit Investments also appeared among this week’s top six winners, rising 13.59 percent, so the forecast and recent price action point in the same direction. QWI Investments is fourth at 400 percent, putting four of the top seven at or above that mark. While interest increased recently, following one of the best profit performances since listing in 2019, the forecast for Jamaica Broilers is a 392 per cent gain. Margaritaville is forecast to deliver gains of 264 percent, It was one of the week’s best performers, up by 7.08 percent. Palace Amusement rounds out the top seven at 251 percent, and it too featured among the week’s top gainers with a 16.33 percent rise. Taken together, three of the seven forecast leaders also gained this week.
The ten winners averaged a gain of 16.00 percent, and the ten losers averaged a decline of 6.67 percent.
The six top winners this past week, posted large moves. 138 Student Living surged 44.19 percent, and Sagicor Select Manufacturing and Distribution Fund rose 20.83 percent. Sagicor Select Financial Fund popped 19.57 percent and Palace Amusement rose 16.33 percent. Sygnus Credit Investments eked out 13.59 percent, and First Rock Real Estate Investments closed up 12.36 percent.
On the downside, the six biggest decliners were led by Mayberry Jamaican Equities, with a fall of 12.03 percent. A.S. Bryden and Sons dropped 10.07 percent, and Jamaica Producers declined 8.78 percent. West Indies Petroleum lost 8.27 percent, Lasco Distributors fell 7.78 percent, and Pulse Investments closed down 5.94 percent.

21% gain for JSE Main Market


The Main Market closed on Friday, October 30, with the JSE Market Index at 385,199.03 points, a gain of 67,212.15 points, or 21.14 percent, from its 2025 year-end close of 317,986.88. The advance was led by a handful of very large movers, with West Indies Petroleum Terminals more than sextupling in value, while a number of securities lost a third or more of their value.

The gain in the index is the highest since 2019, when the market index rose 34 percent, the year before the COVID pandemic in 2020. the current year seems set to be the third consecutive year of increase for the market index.
West Indies Petroleum led the the top winners by a wide margin with a gain of 656.49 percent that dwarfed the second placed mover, NCB Financial Group, with a gain of 106.94 percent and followed by Transjamaican Highway jumping 103.48 percent. Cigarette distributor Carreras advanced 61.11 percent, coming off from a high of $36.21, earlier in the year, when it doubled in price. Lasco Manufacturing rose a respectable 38.41 percent and Scotia Group, which is being taken private at $75 per share, gained 32.08 percent. Kingston Properties appreciated 30.85 percent, Sagicor Real Estate Fund ended with a gain of 18.75 percent, General Accident was next after gaining 16.13 percent and surprisingly, RJR Group, the loss maker that is being restructured, rounded out the top ten, gaining 14.04 percent.
At the other end of the market, Palace Amusement Company and A.S. Bryden Holdings were the weakest performers in the market for the year to date, each declining by 50 percent. Mayberry Group dropped by 36.71 percent and Portland JSX declined by 33.50 percent. Sygnus Real Estate Finance lost 28.52 percent and PROVEN Group declined 27.27 percent. Tropical Battery Company was down 20 percent, First Rock Real Estate Investments fell by 18.80 percent, while Wigton Windfarm, suffering from delayed build-out of its new solar power generation plant, suffered a loss of 18.18 percent, and the Jamaica Stock Exchange declined 17.88 percent.

Berger Paints heads Main Market ICTOP10


The JSE Main Market index fell this week, after closing on Friday, 16 October 2026 at 380,173.09, down 5,859.94 points, or 1.52 percent, from the previous week’s close of 386,033.03. First Rock Real Estate Investments led the winners with a gain of 22.6 percent, followed by Salada Foods with a rise of 16.03 percent, Sagicor Real Estate Fund, the biggest loser, shed 11.68 percent.
Looking ahead, ICInsider.com TOP10, forecast solid potential gains ahead over the next twelve months for Main Market stocks, led by Berger Paints, that is projected to rise 637 percent, with Margaritaville next at 524 percent and Sygnus Capital Investments is third at 490 percent. JMMB Group is projected to gain 459 percent, QWI Investments is forecast to rise by 400 percent, and Jamaica Broilers Group whose price is expected to recover from the huge collapse earlier this year to deliver gains of 383 percent over the next twelve months. Of note, QWI Investments posted a gain of 6.67 percent this this past week, following increased investors’ interest since reporting a healthy profit in the 2026 fiscal year.
The top five winners for the week were led by First Rock Real Estate Investments, which advanced 22.6 percent. Salada Foods climbed by 16.03 percent and Eppley rose 12.65 percent. Victoria Mutual Investments climbed 8.82 percent, while A.S. Bryden & Sons Holdings added 7.22 percent. On the other side, Sagicor Real Estate X Fund declined 11.68 percent to lead the top five losers. Palace Amusement Company fell 8 percent, Kingston Properties lost 7.69 percent, Quantas Advantage declined by 6.88 percent and GraceKennedy slipped by 5.5 percent.
Stocks in both the Main and Junior markets have been responding positively to strong gains in profits for the year so far, no results are expected for Main Market stocks as such not much is expected in price movements this coming week.

 

Ciboney gains 107% & Transjamaican 93% for 2023

It was not a great year for Jamaican stocks in 2023, with all three Jamaica Stock Exchange markets declining, with the Main Market dropping 9 percent, marginally below the 10.2 percent fall in the JSE Index in 2022. The Junior Market slipped 2.5 percent for the year compared to a 16.3 percent gain in 2022 while the USD market fell 1.2 percent compared with a 14 percent rise in 2022. Main market stocks were helped considerably by the market recovering 6.5 percent since early December with the market closing with a bullish tone.
Ciboney was the Jamaica Stock Exchange best performing stock for 2023 in the Main Market with gains of 107 percent, followed by Transjamaican Highway, with an outstanding performance, ending the year up 93 percent and paid a dividend of 18.7 cents for an overall return to investors from the start of the year of 106 percent. The next best performing stock was AS Bryden, the Trinidad based, majority Jamaican ownership, up by 47 percent from the listed price of $22.50 in November. Buoyed by improved results for the fiscal year 2023 and the first quarter profit results to September, Wisynco Group gained 22 percent and Stanley Motta 14 percent followed by the Trinidad based Massy Holdings up 13 percent, in a year when only 13 stocks posted gains in the main market.
Losing stocks were plentiful during the year, with 38 or 78 percent decline in the Main Market.
The worst performing stock was the real estate development company, First Rock Real Estate Investments with a 46 percent decline, followed by Palace Amusement down 44 percent, Guardian Holdings sinking 39 percent, Jamaica Stock Exchange and Berger Paints both losing 37 percent, followed by Pulse Investments down 34 percent and Key Insurance with a fall of 32 percent.

Stock split to drive business for Palace

Palace Amusement stock will trade x-split starting Monday, February, with the record date of February 28 for the 600 to 1 split that will take the total number of shares to 862 million for 1.437 million currently and provide the company with added ongoing publicity.
The stock has enjoyed regular trading since the announcement of the split with the price reaching a record $3,300 and is now trading in the $2,700 range since releasing half year results with profits and revenues surging 222 percent to $486 million, with a profit of $79 million in the December quarter.
The split will result in the stock trading in the $4 to $6 region and will result in almost daily trading thus providing the company with regular publicity that it never had before based on the limited trading opportunities in the past. Such exposure could well result in a 10 to 20 percent jump in attendance as the name and product are beamed regularly on a wider audience than before.

Prices rebound on the JSE markets

The Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange markets surged on Friday while the Main Market bounced moderately over Thursday’s close, even as the price of thinly traded Palace Amusement dropped $645, and the JSE USD market edged slightly lower.  
Trading ended, with an exchange of 21,991,278 shares compared with 29,715,470 units on Thursday, with a value of $203.3 million down from $285.4 million on the previous day. Trading on the JSE USD market resulted in investors exchanging US$7,760 versus US$36,261 on Thursday.
At the close, the Combined Market Index jumped 2,334.51 points to 353,613.49, the All Jamaican Composite Index rallied 1,622.56 points to 384,639.12, the JSE Main Index climbed 1,967.53 points to end at 340,317.50, the Junior Market Index climbed 53.99 points to 3,938.05 and the JSE US dollar market popped 1.30 points to close at 198.16.
The market’s PE ratio ended at 22.3 based on 2021-22 earnings and 13.7 times those for 2022-23 at the close of trading.
Investors need pertinent information to successfully navigate many investment options in the local stock market. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
Investors should use the chart to help make rational investment decisions by investing in stocks close to the average for the sector and not going too far from it unless there are compelling reasons to do so. This approach helps to remove emotions from investment decisions and put in on fundamentals while at the same time not being too far from the majority of investors. Investors who buy when the price of a stock is close to the average will find that they are not inclined to overpay for a stock.
The ICInsider.com PE Ratio chart covers all ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. It shows companies grouped on an industry basis, allowing easy comparisons between the same sector companies and the overall market.
The net asset value of each company is reported as a guide to assess the value of stocks based on this measure quickly. The chart also shows daily changes in stock prices and the percentage year to date price movement based on the last traded prices. Dividends payable and yields for each company are shown in the Main and Junior Markets’ daily report charts that show the closing volume for the bids and offers.
The EPS & PE ratios are based on 2021 and 2022 actual or projected earnings, excluding major one off items. The PE Ratio is the most popular measure used to determine the value of stocks.

 

600 to 1 stock split for Palace

Palace Amusement Company advised that the Board of directors will recommend to shareholders at their upcoming Annual General Meeting to be held on January 24, 2023, that the existing shares be split into 600 units for each currently issued and that the authorised share capital of the Company be increased from 1,500,000 shares to an Unlimited number of shares.

Palace Amusement is recommending 600 to one stock split.

If the resolution if approved at the meeting will take effect from the close of business on February 28, 2023, resulting in the total issued share capital of the company being increased from 1,437,028 ordinary shares to 862,216,800 ordinary shares.
The shares were last traded on Friday at $1,179 each on the Main Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange but jumped nearly 20 percent in Wednesday’s trading session to $1,400, leading to a suspension in trading in the stock. The move will be welcomed by many of the company’s shareholders some of whom have been clamouring for the splitting of the stock for some time and will result in greater liquidity for the stock.

Palace considering split stock

Palace Amusement Company is set to split the stock that last traded at $620 per share on Monday, with a range of 620 to $1,150 for 2022.
The company informed the Jamaica Stock Exchange that the Directors proposed to meet on Tuesday, December 20, 2022, and will be discussing the possibility of a stock split. A split is almost a certainty, with the company having borrowed over $700 million, the opportunity exists to raise fresh capital by way of an additional public issue of shares to pay down the debt. Splitting the stock to make them more attractive to retail investors would be a logical step.
To achieve an attractive price and create wide-scale public interest would require a split in the order of 100 to 200 to one of the existing issued shares and would raise the issued number of shares to between 250 to 300 million units.
Other companies talking about stock splits that could come in 2023 are Medical Disposables that could come with a stock split and a rights issue of more shares to use to fund expansion.

Palace jumps $800 to a record $2,900.

Stationery and Office Supplies informed shareholders at the recently held Annual General Meeting that the directors have been looking but currently the liquidy of the stock does warrant one just yet.
Others that should give serious consideration to splitting their stocks are Access Financial Services, with the stock trading over $20, Dolphin Cove priced in double digits, Barita Investments, Cargo Handlers, Honey Bun, ISP Finance, Knutsford Express and Main Event.

Trading drops on the JSE Wednesday

The Junior Market was the only Jamaica Stock Exchange market to record gains in Wednesday’s trading, while the Main Market declined moderately, resulting in the JSE Combined Index, a measure of the overall market, falling 620.61 points to close at three 367,538.63.

NB Palace gain on Wednesday is $40 and not $5 as shown in the chart.

The All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 1,165.48 points to 404,873.54, the JSE Main Index fell 906.66 points to 353,247.24, the Junior Market Index rose 24.95 points to 4,141.88 and the JSE USD market Index dropped 19.24 points to close at 192.29.
Trading ended, with 28,261,215 shares changing hands, at a mere $63.6 million, down from $102.4 million, with 14,308,105 shares traded in all markets on the previous day. The JSE USD market ended with the value of stocks traded at US$21,025 from US$41,204 on Tuesday.
The market’s PE ratio ended at 23.6 based on 2021-22 earnings and 12.6 times those for 2022-23 at the close of trading.
Investors need pertinent information to navigate many investment options in the local stock market successfully. The ICInsider.com PE ratio chart and the more detailed daily report charts provide investors with regularly updated information to help decision-making.
Investors should use the chart to help make rational investment decisions by investing in stocks close to the average for the sector and not going too far from it unless there are compelling reasons to do so. This approach helps to remove emotions from investment decisions and put in on fundamentals while at the same time not being too far from the majority of investors. Investors who buy when the price of a stock is close to the average will find that they are not inclined to overpay for a stock.
The ICInsider.com PE Ratio chart covers all ordinary shares on the Jamaica Stock Exchange. It shows companies grouped on an industry basis, allowing easy comparisons between the same sector companies and the overall market.
The net asset value of each company is reported as a guide to assess the value of stocks based on this measure quickly. The chart also shows daily changes in stock prices and the percentage year to date price movement based on the last traded prices. Dividends payable and yields for each company are shown in the Main and Junior Markets’ daily report charts that show the closing volume for the bids and offers.
The EPS & PE ratios are based on 2021 and 2022 actual or projected earnings, excluding major one off items. The PE Ratio is the most popular measure used to determine the value of stocks.

 

Junior Market jumps 47% since March 2020

The Junior Market climbed 47 percent in just over a year since the market collapsed by just over 39 percent in March last year from the close of 2019 when the market hit a multi-year low of 2,031.79 on March 18 last year.  
At the same time, the JSE Main Market, while trading above the March 2001 low, is nowhere near the 2020 high and closed out the first quarter marginally down on the 2020 closing.
The Junior Market is up 13 percent for 2021 to the end of March, clawing back most of 21 percent of the fall in 2020 and is now just 11 percent from the close of 3,348.97 at the end of December 2019.
In 2020, the Junior and Main Markets declined, with the Junior Market just edging out the Main Market index with a lower decline of 21 percent versus 22.6 percent for the year.
One year ago, to the end of March, the Junior Market Index dropped 29 percent to 2304.14 but was down a much steeper 47 percent to March 18, at 2031.79 points on the market index. The March 2020 low was the lowest point for the Junior Market since it closed at 2,032.77 points on July 1, 2016.
The market made some recovery last year from the year’s low when it moved higher on April 14, to 2,686.90 points but drifted down after some attempts to break over 2,600 points on a sustained level and closed out 2020 at 2,643.38.
In the meantime, the JSE Main Market failed to move higher in 2021, ending the first quarter 0.20 percent lower than the December close. It is still a bit lower than the 442,905.76 reached on the All Jamaica Composite Index after the early rebound from the 2020 low of 375,091.09 reached on March 25 last year, or the 438,045.18 reached subsequently on November 30.
The gains of eighteen stocks in the first quarter, this year, exceed that of the average of the market and just three performed worse, including CAC 2000 with a fall of 24 percent 19 percent decline for Dolphin Cove and 16 percent in the case of Knutsford Express. Five stocks contributing to the 2021 rebound for the Junior Market are Jamaican Teas up 60 percent, Indies Pharma 48 percent, Lumber Depot 47 percent, Blue Power 35 percent, Caribbean Flavours 35 percent and Fosrich 28 percent.
The Main Market recorded gains in 16 stocks that beat the market’s average move in 2021, with 26 falling below. Main market stocks with healthy gains are Ciboney with a stunning 142 percent rise, followed by Salada Foods with 125 percent gain aided by a 10 to one stock split, Grace Kennedy 37 percent, First Rock 31 percent and proven Investments 27 percent.  Palace Amusement Company that the Covid-19 dislocation has badly hurt is the worst-performing stock with a 51 percent decline, followed by Portland JSX with a loss of 25 percent and Radio Jamaica with 22 percent. Wisynco lost 14 percent and Wigton Windfarm 13 percent.