Unlike last week when there were several changes to the TOP 10 lists, this past week had just two changes, with Lasco Financial returning to the junior market and Sagicor Group to the Main market lists.
CAC 2000 dropped out of the Junior Marketlisting, allowing for the return of Lasco Financial that dropped sharply in price, to close the week at $3.40. Mayberry Investments was edged out by Sagicor Group, dropping from $34.35 to $31.75 at the close of the past week.
Former TOP main market value stock, 
Barita Investments moved up from $9.40 during the previous week to close at $11.60 for a gain of more than 273 percent since September last year. The most recent Initial Public Offering, Stationery and Office Supplies that exited the TOP 10 after listing in the prior week, is fluctuating between $4 and just over $5, and should undergo some amount of wide price movements until demand and supply find some balance. JMMB Group climbed to $23 on Friday before closing back at $21.45, supply has dried up for this stock and it seems to be readying to make an early exit in the next few weeks.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 7.5 and the PE for the main market TOP 10, ends the week at 7.2. The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.3 and 13.2 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 42 percent to the average of the market for Junior Market Top stocks and it remains at 46 percent for the main market.
Advancing Junior stocks edge out decliners
Jamaican Teas one of teh more active stocks on the Junior Market after the company released 9 months results.
Trading closed with 20 securities changing hands, 7 advanced, 5 declined and 8 traded firm with 1,716,953 units valued at $8,024,988 compared to 13,753,371 units valued at $73,391,001 on Thursday.
Trading ended with the Junior Market Index rising 1.89 points to close at 3,125.15. The market closed with an average of 85,848 units at an average of $401,249 trading, in contrast to an average of 687,669 units at an average of $3,669,550 on Thursday. The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 322,723 units valued at $1,695,591 compared to 309,916 units valued at $1,627,630 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking strong for Monday’s activity as 7 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 2 with lower offers.
At the close of the market, stocks trading and their last traded price are: AMG Packaging with 21,000 shares at $3.50, Blue Power trading 700 shares at $40, CAC 2000 closed 35 cents higher at $7.85 with 3,000 shares, Caribbean Cream rose 4 cents to $6.74 with 54,000 shares, Caribbean Producers gained 21 cents to end at $3.60 with 32,362 shares, Consolidated Bakeries closed at $2.15 with 22,500 shares, Express Catering inched higher by 3 cents to $5.23 with 158,852 shares, General Accident closed at $2.60 with 11,757 shares, Honey Bun lost 20 cents and closed at $4.80 with 110 shares,
Jamaican Teas closed 5 cents higher at $5.00 with 221,554 shares, after it traded at $5.30 in the morning session. Jetcon Corporation closed 9 cents higher at $5.50 with 95,280 shares, KLE Group closed at $2.10 with 277,000 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 4,171 shares, Lasco Distributors closed at $6.70 with 6,450 units, Lasco Financial lost 40 cents and ended at $3.40 with 155,500 shares, Lasco Manufacturing climbed 36 cents higher to $4.74 with 7,390 shares, Medical Disposables declined by 10 cents, to $5.20 with 13,000 shares, Paramount Trading closed at $2.94 with 2,872 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 422,213 units with the price sliding 31 cents to $4.49 and tTech ended with a loss of 10 cents, at $6.90 with 207,242 shares changing hands.
89% of trades to 2 Lasco companies
Lasco Manufacturing & Lasco Distributors, combined, traded 89% shares on Thursday.
Two Lasco companies dominated trading on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Thursday, accounting for 89 percent of the volume traded. Lasco Distributors accounted for 4.9 million units and the manufacturing sister company 7.35 million units.
Trading closed with 20 securities changing hands, 5 advanced, 5 declined and 7 traded firm with 13,753,371 units valued at $73,391,001 compared to 28,446,953 shares valued at $130,472,160 on Wednesday when Jamaican Teas traded over 25 million shares. The Junior Market Index rose 10.72 points to close at 3,123.26.
Trading ended with an average of 687,669 units for an average of $3,669,550 in contrast to 1,293,043 units for an average of $5,930,553 on Thursday. 
The average volume and value for the month to date amounts to 344,257 units valued at $1,813,259 compared to 309,916 units valued at $1,627,630 previously. In contrast, July closed with average of 536,395 units at $1,905,441 for each security traded.
Trading ended with the market sentiments looking stronger for Friday’s activity as 10 stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and 3 with lower offers.
The volume of stocks changing hands on Thursday and the last traded prices are: Access Financial with 27,855 shares at $46.20, AMG Packaging with 3,100 shares at $3.50, Blue Power losing $1.50 in trading 550 shares at $40, CAC 2000 closing at $7.50 with 1,659 shares, Cargo Handlers closed at $11 with 550 shares, 
Consolidated Bakeries lost 11 cents and ended at $2.15 with 2,000 shares, Dolphin Cove closed at $17.50 with 100 shares, Express Catering closed at $5.20 with 78,372 shares, General Accident closed at $2.60 with 89,694 stock units, Jamaican Teas ended at $4.50 with 793,230 units, Jetcon Corporation closed at $5.41 with 168,148 shares, KLE Group closed at $2.10 with 168,011 shares, Knutsford Express closed at $15 with 2,000 shares, Lasco Distributors exchanged 4,911,909 shares at $6.70, Lasco Financial closed at $3.80 with 6,898 shares after falling 5 cents, Lasco Manufacturing rose 5 cents to $4.38 with 7,352,203 shares, Medical Disposables climbed 30 cents to $5.30 with 165 shares, Paramount Trading rose 9 cents to $2.94 with 10,000 shares, Stationery and Office Supplies traded 122,333 units with the price rising 40 cents to $4.80 and tTech closed at $7 with 14,584 shares.
Major changes to TOP 10 stocks
Barita jumps TOP 10 with more than 200% gain since September 2016
Investors pushed the price of Barita Investments to $9.40 during the week and drove newly listed Stationery and Office Supplies to $5.10 after it was listed on Thursday moving both out of the top flight of stocks. In addition, four others changed places with new listings.
Barita entered the list when we started the TOP 5 back in September last year, at $3.11 and has gained more than 200 percent since then while SOS is up 154 percent from its IPO price. Both stocks have more room for growth.
tTech reported lower profit in the second quarter to June with lower revenues resulting in a lower earnings forecast for 2017 and dropped out of the top list. CAC 2000 having slipped out of the listing the prior week returned this past week and was joined by Dolphin Cove to replace the two that exited the listing.
Main market stock, Berger Paints fell during the week from $19 to trade at $16 and moved back into the listing. Moving in are Grace Kennedy, Mayberry Investments and PanJam Investment. Stocks graduating from the top flight are Seprod as the price rose during the week to $33.33 from $30, 
Sagicor Group moving from $31.50 to $34.35 and Salada Foods that closed at $9.50, up from $9.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 7.6 and the PE for the main market TOP 10, ends the week at 7.2. The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.2 and 12.9 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.
At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 41 percent to the average of the market for Junior Market Top stocks and 46 percent for the main market.
Cable & Wireless leads stocks to watch
Cable & Wireless Head quarters.
Cable & Wireless is possibly the main stock to watch for the coming week with the company returning to profitability in the June quarter.
The company lost several billion dollars for many years but posted a profit of $222 million in the latest quarter on an 11 percent surge in revenues. Subsequent to the close of the quarter, Cable and Wireless increased rates on a series of services that should add to revenues and profits in the coming quarters. Profit for the full year to December should end positively, thus wiping out the $311 million loss for the first half of the year after tax and a lower pretax loss of just $199 million. The recent turn around in the fortune of the company is likely to be a big surprise to many investors and will help move the stock price much higher than the $1.07 it closed at, on Friday.
Other stocks that investors should keep an eye on this week include, Barita Investments with an announced take over offer on the table, JMMB Group, Stationery & Office Supplies that just listed and selling below potential, NCB Financial with limited supply, Jetcon Corporation with profit doubling for the half year leading to strong buying in the past week and recently listed Express Catering with demand to buy 765,925 shares at $5.50.
Will Barita jump TOP 10?
Barita closed at $8 on Friday.
News emerged during the past week that directors at Barita Investments was considering a bid to purchase the majority of its shares.
Investors responded immediately by removing just about all offers that were posted on the trading platform of the Jamaica Stock Exchange, the stock climbed to $8 and only require a small increase to leave the top list.
Main market Berger Paints rose during the week from $18 to trade at $19 and was edged out of the top list by Pulse Investments that fell sharply in price to close with a bid of $1.75 after the price fell during the week.
Recent TOP 10 billing, NCB Financial Group that recently fell out of the top list closed the week at $94.99 in response to continued demand flowing from strong increase in nine months profit against a back drop of minimal selling of the stock.Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) will start trading on Wednesday, August 9, when the price is expected to surge, based on the heavy over subscription at the initial public offering, with more than 1,200 applications for shares. This stock could be out of the top listing very soon.
Other junior market stocks activity, CAC 2000 fell out of the top listing and Lasco Manufacturing returned to the top listing.
The average PE ratio for the Junior Market Top stocks is at 6.7 and the PE for the main market TOP 10, ends the week at 7.4.
The average PE for the overall main market trades at 13.3 and 12 for Junior Market, based on 2017 estimated earnings.At the close of the week, IC Insider.com’s TOP 10 stocks now trade at an average discount of 44 percent to the average of the market, leaving stocks with room for growth in the months ahead.
Stocks to watch|The stocks that investors should keep an eye on this week include, Barita Investments, JMMB Group, Stationery & Office Supplies, NCB Financial, Jetcon Corporation.
Stationery & Office Supplies heads to market
The Mcdaniel family owned Stationery and Office Supplies are heading for listing on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market with an initial public offering 50,024,100 ordinary shares.
The issue is inclusive of 22,500,000 reserved shares, some of which are reserved for staff at $1.60 per share, with the rest being made available to the general public at $2 per share the offer opening at 9 on July 19th, with the closing set for 4:30 P.M. on July 26th.
The Company reported pretax profits of $53 million in 2016 for earnings of 26.5 cents per share resulting in a PE of 7.5 before tax. Earnings for 2017 is estimated at around 36 cents on a pretax basis or a PE of an attractive 5.6 times 2017 earnings.
Will SOS be the 35th Junior listing?
The Jamaica Stock Exchange Junior Market should be see its 35th listing and 31st ordinary share listing well before the summer months are over, as small and medium sized companies seek the exposure and other benefits of listing, that the market offers.
The family owned, stationery, office furniture and equipment company, Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) is preparing to float an IPO with the intention to list its ordinary shares on the Junior Market.
The company run by Managing Director, David McDaniel, and Director and wife, Marjorie McDaniel, with second generation McDaniels also leading the management team, retained JN Fund Managers has been as the brokers handling the offer.
The company operates a warehouse showroom space occupying 35,000 sq ft on 23 Beechwood Avenue in Kingston and a second location in Montego Bay, servicing Jamaica and the Caribbean region. SOS employs more than than 100 employees, a release from the company stated. Our source suggests that the high numbers is reflective of demands on the stationery side that requires large number of staffing to handle, sell and distribute to customers.
“Stationery & Office Supplies is a company that my family has built over the years, and we’re proud of being a successful Jamaican business. Fifty years is no mean feat and we have managed to grow, expand, and adapt with changing times. Listing on the Junior Market of the JSE is a step that we’re looking forward to, not just from a financial perspective, but also for what it means to other companies” said David.
Our source within the sector indicates that it is very competitive, with a number of dominant players which includes SOS, Neveast, Keith Ryan, Campbells and T Geddes Grant on the office furniture side and Sangsters being the most dominant for stationery. Other players are said to include PriceSmart and Mega Mart both covering stationery and office furniture. T Geddes Grant was formerly in stationery but the Massy Group to which it belongs exited citing losses being incurred as the reason.
The market is estimated around $2 billion with gross profit margins of 15-20 percent for stationery and 20 percent for office furniture. Filing cabinets and chairs are said to be two of the largest selling item for offices. The listing of SOS will like other listing gain added exposure from the listing both from the publicity leading up to the listing and after as reporting of trading in the company’s shares is beamed to consumers.
The company will be the first with the line of products listed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange if the issue is successful. The listing would bring to 8 the number of Junior Market companies involved mainly in distribution of goods. IC Insider.com understands that the issue should hit the market before the end of May. That time frame may be subject to the Financial Services Commission having no objection to the offering document.