Market activity was steady on Wednesday, versus Tuesday with the volume and value of stocks trading differed, marginally from Tuesday’s levels on the Jamaica Stock Exchange Main Market as rising stocks exceeded those declining but that failed to prevent the market indices from slipping.
Overall, 9,365,107 shares were traded for $89,019,484 versus 9,657,015 units at $85,919,427 on Tuesday. Trading averages 167,234 units at $1,589,634, compared to 178,834 shares at $1,591,100 on Tuesday and month to date, an average of 186,265 units at $1,754,509, compared to 192,803 units at $1,811,153 on the previous trading day. June closed with an average of 281,913 units at $5,309,050.
Community & Workers Credit Union led trading with 2.44 million shares for 26.1 percent of total volume followed by Transjamaican Highway with 1.53 million units for 16.3 percent of the day’s trade and Sagicor Select Financial Fund with 1.35 million units for 14.5 percent market share.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 2,438.78 points to 435,164.77, the JSE Main Index fell 488.85 points to 381,571.02 and the JSE Financial Index declined 0.48 points to 90.25.
Trading ended with 56 securities compared to 54 on Tuesday, with 24 rising, 18 declining and 14 ending unchanged.
The PE Ratio, a formula to ascertain appropriate stock values, averages 14.3 for the Main Market. The JSE Main and USD Market PE ratios are computed based on ICInsider.com’s forecasted earnings for companies with financial years, ending up to the close of August 2023.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator shows eight stocks ended with bids higher than their last selling prices and five stocks with lower offers.
At the close, Eppley Caribbean Property Fund rose $1 to $40.50, with 13 shares crossing the market, First Rock Capital gained 94 cents to end at $12.70 with an exchange of 3,903 stock units, Guardian Holdings rallied $20.79 to $521.79 after trading 733 stocks. JMMB Group lost 64 cents in closing at $43 in switching ownership of 55,562 units, Kingston Properties increased 50 cents to close at $8.20, with 23,543 units crossing the market, Kingston Wharves fell $1.30 to $37.70, with 1,558 stocks changing hands. Margaritaville climbed 65 cents to end at $17.15 and closed after 2,121 stock units passed through the exchange, Massy Holdings advanced $3 in closing at $95 with 18,357 shares clearing the market, Mayberry Investments popped 82 cents in ending at $9.99 after exchanging 190 stocks. Mayberry Jamaican Equities shed 91 cents to close at $12.99 in trading 312,293 shares, MPC Caribbean Clean Energy dropped $16.62 in ending $89.88 while exchanging 682 stock units, Proven Investments fell $3.50 to end at $33 in trading 195,898 units. Sagicor Group lost 49 cents in closing at $55 in an exchange of 96,640 stock units, Scotia Group dropped 94 cents to close at $36, with 6,402 units crossing the exchange, Stanley Motta shed 60 cents to $5 after the trading of 11,200 stocks. Sterling Investments fell 40 cents to a 52 weeks’ low of $2.50 in exchanging 77,690 shares, Supreme Ventures advanced $1.54 to end at $30.69 with the swapping of 68,794 units and Sygnus Credit Investments rallied 75 cents to close at $14.75 after 10,990 shares crossed the market.
In the preference segment, Eppley 7.50% preference share popped 90 cents in closing at $6.90 in exchanging 100 stock units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
Big price rise in ICTOP10
The markets closed with contrasting styles on Friday, with Junior Market listed Caribbean Cream dropping 27 percent to $4.01 and the main market listed Radio Jamaica rising 21 percent to $2.90, with the stock triggering the circuit breaker as investors exchanged 2.9 million units of the company’s shares on Friday.
It is unclear why RJR, a stock that was previously under selling pressure, surprisingly, surged at the week’s close. Caribbean Cream came under pressure after the company reported a loss for the year to February. Investors will have to await the first quarter results in a few days to determine whether the new year will see a return to brighter days.
Five Junior Market ICTOP10 stocks fell and four rose, while in the TOP10 Main Market, six stocks gained and two fell with none exceeding 4 percent, but for RJR.
Elsewhere in the Junior Market, C2000 climbed 11 percent to $10.30. In comparison, Access Financial and Elite Diagnostic gained 5 percent each to close the week at $21.01 and $3.50, respectively. In contrast, Caribbean Assurance Brokers lost 6 percent as Jetcon Corporation and Lasco Financial all fell 5 percent.
The week ended with one new listing in the TOP10 as mild gains by General Accident and a fall in the price of Dolphin Cove resulted in them swapping places.
VM Investments moved out in the TOP10 Main Market and Key Insurance moved into the TOP 10.
It is pretty clear that many investors are investing in the dark with the hope that some overvalued stocks will continue to deliver above average gains into the future, but not many people know that yesterday’s winners may not have tomorrow’s significant gains. They ignore the long established feature of the market going back almost 40 years of the IC 80/20 rule and rule of 72. The IC 80/20 rule is that only two out of ten stocks on average in one year end up in the top 10 the following year. The essence of this is that it is not prudent to invest in the vast majority of last year’s top 10 stocks, especially those that did exceptionally well and are unlikely to repeat.
Rule of 72 is simple. Divide 72 by the rate of return easily shows how quickly money can double. How does this apply to stocks? Last year the Junior Market rose 30 percent and for 2022, so far, by 27 percent. These growth rates indicate that an investment in all 45 stocks in this market would double every two and a half years based on the 2021 increase and roughly one year and four months using the year to date growth. What all of this is saying, investors don’t need to be chasing popular stocks to make good money in the market, choose those that are undervalued, with profit set to grow sufficiently to give a boost to the stock price.
Keep a careful watch on AMG Packaging, Dolphin Cove, Express Catering, Lasco Distributors, Lasco Manufacturing and Stationery and Office Supplies. Dolphin Cove, Caribbean Producers and Express Catering will be significant beneficiaries of the strong rebound in tourist arrivals.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 6.2, well below the market average of 15, while the Junior Market Top 10 PE is six versus the market at 12.9. The Junior Market TOP10 is projected to gain an average of 242 percent to May 2023 and the Main Market 229 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.
Big gains for ICTOP10 stocks
CAC2000 and AMG Packaging each gained 21 percent this past week, on top of the 10 percent gain in the previous week, while Medical Disposables rose 19 percent and Caribbean Cream and Jetcon Corporation added 10 percent to their price in the Junior Market ICInsidert TOP10.
Former Top10 listed Dolla Financial gained 17.7 percent to close the week at $2.75 after the stock traded as high as $3.60 on Tuesday.
The week ended with one new listing in the TOP10 as the gains by AMG Packaging pushed it out of the Top 10 and is replaced by General Accident, with a fall in the price to $5.79. Elite Diagnostic fell 6 percent to close the week at $3.32 and Lasco Distributors lost 4 percent to close at $3.20.
In the TOP10 Main Market, Berger Paints climbed 11 percent to $12.18 after trading more than 52,000 shares on Thursday and Friday, an unusual amount and Sygnus Credit Investments rose 5 percent to $14.95 while Caribbean Cement lost 8 percent to $64.50 and VM Investments gained 4 percent. There were no significant losers in this market.
Keep a careful watch on Dolphin Cove and Stationery and Office Supplies (SOS) that are close to the top10 and are undervalued. Both companies reported solid gains for 2022 back to school demand. The company also shipped a container of goods recently to the Eastern Caribbean. Dolphin Cove is benefitting from cost reduction in its operations, but more importantly, the solid first quarter results occurred when tourism arrivals were only 63 percent of 2019 numbers. In the first two months of the June quarter, tourist arrivals are 95 percent of the 2019 period and this is bound to have a positive impact on pushing the second quarter numbers much higher than for the first quarter as well as for the balance of the year. A similar situation would apply to Caribbean Producers, a significant supplier to the hotel sector.
The average PE for the JSE Main Market TOP 10 is 6.2, well below the market average of 14.5, while the Junior Market PE for the Top 10 is 6.1 versus the market at 13. The Junior Market TOP10 is projected to gain an average of 230 percent by May 2023 and the Main Market 238 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, 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.