There has been quite a high level of volatility in the ICTOP10 over the past two weeks, with a 19 percent jump in the price of Iron Rock Insurance to $2.51, with an 11 percent fall in ISP Finance to $28.10 and a drop of 10 percent in AMG Packaging to $3.18 as The Junior Market closed with Stationery & Office Supplies returning to the TOP10 based on projected earnings for 2024 but Honey Bun rose to $7.30 and dropped out of the TOP10.
In the Main Market, 138 Student Living plunged 28 percent to $3.03 followed by a 16 percent fall for Margaritaville to $14.25, while Pulse Investments rose 13 percent to $2.14 and Kay Insurance rallied 12 percent to $2.67.
For the full list of weekly percentage changes for the ICTOP10 stocks, check the attached charts for the weekly percentage price movements.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market ICTOP 10 stands at 5.5, well below the market average of 13.9 and the Junior Market TOP10 sits at 7.4 over half of the market, with an average of 13.1.
The Main Market ICTOP10 is projected to gain an average of 284 percent by May 2024, based on 2023 forecasted earnings, providing better values than the Junior Market with the potential to gain 174 percent over the same period.
In the Main Market ICTOP 10, a total of 17 of the most highly valued stocks representing 35 percent of the Main Market are priced at a PE of 15 to 108, with an average of 28 and 20 excluding the highest PE ratios, and a PE of 25 for the top half and 18 excluding the stocks with overweight values.
In the Junior Market IC TOP10 are 11 stocks, or 23 percent of the market, with PEs ranging from 15 to 46, averaging 21.5, well above the market’s average. The top half of the market has an average PE of 17, possibly the lowest fair value for stocks, currently.
Of great import is that the averages of both markets are now converging around a PE of 20 for close to a third of the market, as the year is coming to a close and with more information available on the full year’s earnings.
ICTOP10 focuses on likely yearly winners, accordingly, the list includes some of the best companies in the market, but this is not always so. 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 on or around May 2024 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 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.
Minority deserves better
SOS directors released June’s quarterly results even though the JSE rules require the first report to be relased for the September quarter.
The investing public seems not to be treated with the respect it deserves. It appears that many companies thing of investors last, not recognizing that they are shareholders just like the majority owners.
The last persons seen are the first to be remembered and is equivalent to out of sight out of mind. That seems to be the case with shareholders in the Caribbean. Newly listed Stationery & Office Supplies release of the June quarterly report although not required by the Jamaica Stock Exchange is an example of good corporate governance and is to be applauded.
In Trinidad for example, there is little liquidity in that market and the directors refuse to do anything about it. In Jamaica many companies tend to stick with the minimum regulations of the stock exchange, even when the recent examples in Jamaica say how important it is to ensure that there is adequate liquidity in the market.
The current regulation for listings in Jamaica, is for new listed companies to file their first quarterly report in the quarter ending after listing. The rule is inadequate to protect investors. Information is critical for the capital market to function properly, as such investors should not have to wait more than two quarters to get a quarterly report. In 2016, there was the very poor decision by Wentworth Graham the then head of the regulatory arm of the Jamaica Stock Exchange to permit 1834 Investments to wrongly withhold the December quarterly report from the public. This was based on improper interpretation of the rules relating to the release of financial information.
Main Event release their first report in June after their January IPO.
Earlier this year Main Event issued their IPO and included interim results to September 2016, with the year end of October. The IPO was in January but it was not until June that shareholders had information on the out turn of the operations for 2016 as well as for the first quarter this year. As it turned out, profit of $60 million at the 11 month period melted down to $56.5 million for the full year. The audited report was only signed on the June 5, more than 7 months after the year end while the first quarter results were never released but the second quarter to April was released within the deadline of June 15.
The management of Stationery & Office Supplies may have had a lot to shout about with pretax profit jumping 146 percent to $20.3 million for the June quarter this year and hence the release of the results to Jamaica Stock Exchange in less than a month of listing on the Junior Market.
Under the stock exchange rules it need not have put out the six months report having been listed in August. Some persons may see it as self interest in the release, but there is no evidence of that. The release provides the investing public with pertinent information in a timely manner, on which they can make their investment decisions. The hope is that the Jamaica Stock Exchange rules will be strengthened quickly to ensure that pertinent information is release on a timely basis to the public.