Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) is up 72 percent in 2022 and is heading to more than $20 with projected earnings of $1.25 for the year. SOS made the ICTOP15 list in January at 12 spot to produce a 200 percent gain for the year. It came into TOP10 in the week ending January 21, in the 6th spot and exited the TOP10 on the week ending April 22.
Stationery & Office Supplies – Montego Bay office.
Over the past two weeks, company results have been coming out fast and furious, with many posting solid increased profits over the first quarter of 2021, as the economy continues to recover and cost savings also takes hold to help lift profits to record levels in many cases.
One company to benefit from improved results for the first quarter results to March is SOS, with revenues rising 37 percent to $427 million and profits surging 344 percent to $81 million before gains from the sale of a property, investors belated warmed to the stock pushing it to a 52 week’s high of $11.02 and out of ICTOP10. Based on the results, ICInsider.com upgraded earnings from $1.10 to $1.25. Investors in the stock can look for a possible stock split this year if the price rises.
It is well worth noting that the Junior Market peaked at 4,669.78 points at the market opening on May 10 and pulled back to 4,444.25 on Friday as new quarterly results tempered investors in some overvalued stocks that have started to adjust downwards as reality sets in. Among them is Fesco, which was selling at a PE of 50 times the current year’s earnings. There seem to be more painful adjustments to come for investors in this stock. MailPac also suffered a reversal in price after the first quarter results disappointed investors, with lower revenues and earnings.
It is not unusual for investors to take a break after mid-May each year, with most results released and return in late June or early July just ahead of the new earnings season for the half year. Against this background, trading could move sideways for a month or two, but the Lasco companies, Access and Medical Disposables could light up the market when they release results in a few weeks.
Berger Paints annual report had good news for investors to digest.
In the Main Market, Jamaica Stock Exchange was added to the ICTOP10 recently but slipped out last week and reported solid results for the March quarter, with profit jumping 84 percent after revenues rose 37 percent. The projected earnings were downgraded to $1.30 from $3, leaving the stock just about appropriately valued. Berger Paints came out with solid earnings, resulting in our projection being upgraded from $1.70 to $2.35, helped by a sharp cut in other operating expenses from $160 million in 2021 to $117 million and now heads the Main Market TOP10 list.
Elite Diagnostic gained 3 percent for the week at $4, but the promise that the company showed when it was listed has started to show again, with revenues in the third quarter rising 24 percent to $161 million and profit surging to $28 million from $4.4 million in 2021. Based on the results, earnings for the current year ending in June are projected at 24 cents and 55 cents for the 2022/23 fiscal year.
Former ICTOP10 listing, Tropical Battery earnings were downgraded to 18 cents per share for this year, following the release of March half year results.
Access Financial jumped 22 percent last week, and is down 16 percent this past week at $21.50, and attracted more buying interest as the release of year results approaches. tTech tumbled 8 percent during the week and AMG Packaging 7 percent. Caribbean Assurance Brokers was the only stock with any meaningful gain, with a rise of 6 percent.
This week, there was no change to ICInsider.com TOP10 Main Market listings, but the Junior Market has two, with Lasco Distributors just slipping out. Jetcon Corporation suffered a big price decline during the week to close at $1.35 to reenter the list. tTech earnings were revised down to 25 cents after the company posted flat sales in the first quarter and a small loss and fell out of the top listing to be replaced by Dolphin Cove is poised to grow much more this year as improving tourism traffic that April numbers show is virtually back to normal provide a big boost to future earnings.
Investors should be on the lookout for companies with March year end that have not yet reported earnings. Amongst the grouping are the three Lasco companies that could get price moving punch from the results. Watch also Access and Medical Disposables sitting on the TOP of the list, with the company said to be generating profit from the acquisition of Cornwall Enterprises, well ahead of the two year target. ICInsider.com earnings projections of 70 cents per share for the 2022 fiscal year assume that earnings would include profit from the subsidiary and should result in a big jump in the stock toward $14.
The primary mover in the main market was Caribbean Cement that fell 12 percent to $61 as buying interest in the stock remains low, even as the first quarter results suggest the stock is highly undervalued, no other stock had any serious change.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 ends the week at 6.2, well below the market average of 15.3, while the Junior Market PE for the Top 10 sits at 6.3 versus the market at 13.9. The Junior Market TOP10 is projected to gain an average of 226 percent by May 2023 and the Main Market 215 percent.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list may or may not include the best companies in the market. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings to highlight winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potential winning stocks and helping to remove emotional attachments to stocks 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, based on the possible increase for each company, considering the earnings and PE ratios 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.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list may or may not include the best companies in the market. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings to highlight winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potential winning stocks and helping to remove emotional attachments to stocks that often result in costly mistakes.
The Main Market that ICInsider.com forecast to deliver a 14 percent rise for the year struggles to break from consolidation so far, with a rise of just 4.8 for the four months to April and is consistent with a 14 percent increase for the year. It is quite likely that the market PE could climb closer to a PE of 18, which will push the annual gains to around 30 percent if the financial stocks show good increases in profit for the year. That is a very likely situation as the hike in interest rates is driving net interest income sharply upwards.
In addition to the Top15 selection for each market at the start of the year, we added a few stocks. There were nine winning stocks with good gains. The list includes AMG Packaging 73 percent, Dolphin Cove 47 percent, Elite up 26 percent, Everything Fresh 83 percent, iCreate 263 percent, Jetcon 75 percent, Spur Tree Spices 215 percent, Stationery and Office Supplies 46 percent and Tropical Batteries up 124 percent for the year to date and up 64 percent since ICInsider.com added it was added to the TOP10 on February 25. Caribbean Cream, down 7 percent, is the only Junior Market stock selection to fall.
The big TOP15 winners for the Main Market are Caribbean Producers, up 42 percent, Jamaica Stock Exchange at 22 percent, JMMB Group at 16 percent and Proven at 14 percent. Berger Paints, down 7 percent, Jamaica Broilers, with a fall of 3 percent and Scotia Group, down one percent, are the only losers in this segment.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list may or may not include the best companies in the market. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings to highlight winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potential winning stocks and helping to remove emotional attachments to stocks that often result in costly mistakes.
The Junior Market ended with three stocks rising from 8 to 15 percent. Caribbean Assurance Brokers climbed 10 percent for the week while Jetcon Corporation rose 8 percent to close at $1.40. Declining were Lasco Financial, down 8 percent and Access Financial and AMG Packaging, down 5 percent, as buying eased markedly following improved results released at the close of the market ahead of the Easter weekend. Investors seem not to be factoring in cost savings and increased efficiency that the newly installed machine brings to the business following the close of the recent quarter. With a 5 percent rise, Guardian Holdings was the biggest mover in the Main Market.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners; accordingly, the list may or may not include the best companies in the market. ICInsider.com ranks stocks based on projected earnings to highlight winners from the rest, allowing investors to focus on potential winning stocks and helping to remove emotional attachments to stocks that often result in costly mistakes.
A total of 10 securities traded, compared to five on Tuesday, with five rising, three declining and two ending unchanged, leading the JSE US Denominated Equities Index to climb 4.66 points and land at 208.53.
Proven Investments rose 1.48 cents to close at 24.8 US cents as investors grabbed 1,042,844 stock units, Sterling Investments lost 0.17 of a cent to 2 US cents in an exchange of 2,500 shares, Sygnus Credit Investments USD share climbed 0.59 of a cent to 12.7 US cents in switching ownership of 5,388 stocks. Transjamaican Highway rallied 0.02 cents to end at 0.9 US cents in trading 67,530 units,
The JSE US Denominated Equities Index gained 0.33 points to end at 203.87.
At the close, First Rock Capital USD share lost 0.7 of a cent to end at 7.23 US cents after trading 9,537 shares, Proven Investments ended at 23.32 US cents in exchanging 8,547 units, Sterling Investments fell 0.12 of a cent in closing at 2.17 US cents, with 4,270 stocks crossing the exchange. Sygnus Credit Investments USD share shed 0.78 of one cent to 12.11 US cents, trading 10,818 shares and Transjamaican Highway remained at 0.88 of a US cent in switching ownership of 199,973 units.
Trading ended with six securities changing hands, compared to eight on Monday with prices of two rising, three declining and one ending unchanged.
At the close, First Rock Capital USD share shed 0.01 of a cent in closing at 6.99 US cents after an exchange of 552 shares, Margaritaville increased 2 cents to 20 US cents trading 1,860 stocks, Productive Business Solutions fell 7 cents to US$1.09, with 27 stock units crossing the market. Proven Investments traded 45,841 units to finish at 22 US cents, Sterling Investments popped 0.01 of a cent to close at 2.31 US cents, with 12,100 shares changing hands and Transjamaican Highway declined 0.11 of a cent in ending at 0.78 US cents in an exchange of 961,305 stocks.
Margaritaville remained at 18 US cents after exchanging one unit, Proven Investments advanced 0.8 of a cent to 22 US cents and exchanging 20,281 stocks. Sterling Investments climbed 0.2 of a cent to 2.3 US cents with the swapping of 62,791 stock units, Sygnus Real Estate Finance USD share shed 1 cent to end at 13 US cents in exchanging 21,724 stocks, Transjamaican Highway rallied 0.01 of a cent in closing at 0.89 US cents in an exchange of 300,000 units.
Trading ended with six securities changing hands, compared to seven on Thursday with prices of four rising, two declining. The JSE US Denominated Equities Index gained 6.68 points to end at 204.79.
At the close, First Rock Capital USD share rallied half of a cent after ending at 7 US cents in an exchange of 27,000 shares, Margaritaville added 3 cents to close at 18 US cents in trading 118 stock units, Productive Business Solutions rose 16 cents to US$1.16 trading 1,703 stocks. Proven Investments fell 0.8 of a cent in closing at 21.2 US cents after an exchange of 33,587 units, Sygnus Credit Investments USD share dipped 0.1 of a cent to 12.85 US cents, with 9,000 units crossing the market and Transjamaican Highway gained 0.05 of a cent to 0.88 of one US cent with an exchange of 11,431 stocks.
Trading ended on Wednesday, with the volume of shares changing hands falling 76 percent and valued 84 percent lower than on Tuesday, at the close of the Jamaica Stock Exchange US dollar market, resulting in just two securities changing hands, compared to three on Tuesday with the prices of one declining and the other ending unchanged. 
Overall, 19,170 shares traded, for US$4,043 compared to 81,192 units at US$25,432 on Tuesday.