After the close of the market or the Independence holiday on Friday, trading resumed on the Jamaica Stock Exchange on Monday, with 54 percent more stocks changing hands, with an exchange of 7 percent more funds passing through the market and resulted in a spirited decline in the market indices.
The All Jamaican Composite Index dropped 3,947.10 points to 457,185.51, the Main Index dived 3,831.32 points to 417,900.98 and the JSE Financial Index slipped 1.06 points to end at 102.45.
Trading ended with 50 securities compared to 49 on Thursday, with 16 stocks rising, 21 declining and 13 remaining unchanged. The PE Ratio averages 16.4 based on ICInsider.com’s forecast of 2021-22 earnings.
The market closed with 9,969,713 shares trading for $73,681,632 versus 6,485,437 units at $73,527,010 on Thursday. Wigton Windfarm led trading with 36.4 percent of total volume after an exchange of 3.63 million shares followed by Sagicor Select Financial Fund 13.6 percent with 1.35 million units and Transjamaican Highway 11.5 percent with 1.14 million shares, QWI Investments controlled 10.2 percent of the market, with 1.02 million units changing hands.
Trading averaged 199,394 units at $1,473,633, compared to 132,356 shares at $1,500,551 on Thursday. Trading month to date, averages 153,737 units at $1,493,790, in contrast to 138,207 units at $1,500,646 on Thursday. Trading for July averages 322,932 units at $15,201,099.
Investor’s Choice bid-offer indicator reading has nine stocks ending with bids higher than their last selling prices and two with lower offers.
At the close, Berger Paints fell $1.04 to $12.70 after exchanging 200 shares, Eppley spiked 72 cents to $39 in an exchange of 1,254 units, First Rock Capital fell 32 cents to end at $14.05 in exchanging 292 stock units. GraceKennedy popped $6.25 to $104, with 228,414 shares crossing the market, Guardian Holdings shed $10 to $630 with the swapping of 10,588 stocks, Jamaica Producers declined $1 in closing at $22 trading 3,769 stock units. JMMB Group rallied 28 cents to close at $37.78, with 163,033 shares clearing the market, Kingston Wharves lost $1 to end at $48 while exchanging 2,388 units. Mayberry Jamaican Equities dropped 47 cents to $8.50 after trading 8,501 units, NCB Financial Group shed $6.29 to close at $131.21 after an exchange of 82,261 stock units. 138 Student Living rallied 65 cents to $5.10, with 64,807 shares changing hands, Palace Amusement dropped $28.24 to $1033.76, with an exchange of 8 stocks, Pulse Investments rose 21 cents in closing at $3.96 trading 214,612 stock units. Sagicor Group popped 55 cents to $58.50 in exchanging 7,219 shares, Salada Foods gained 20 cents ending at $8, with 5,912 stocks crossing the market. Scotia Group fell 20 cents to $39.30 in switching ownership of 202,916 stock units, Seprod dropped 98 cents to $69.02, with 1,945 units crossing the market, Stanley Motta spiked 69 cents to $5.99 after 4,878 stocks crossed the exchange and Sygnus Credit Investments rallied 72 cents to $15, with 73,359 shares changing hands.
In the preference segment Community & Workers Credit Union climbed 21 cents to $1.68, with 41 units crossing the exchange, Eppley 8.75% preference shares lost 18 cents ending at $7.30 in trading 200 stocks, JMMB Group 7.25% advanced 35 cents to close at $2.67 with the swapping of 14 units and JMMB Group 7.50% slipped 15 cents to 75 cents after exchanging 421,088 stock units.
Prices of securities trading are those for the last transaction of each stock unless otherwise stated.
More changes in ICTOP10 picks
Scotia Group’s stock price slipped during the week from $42 at the end of the previous week and closed trading at $39.50 Friday and pushing it back into the Main Market ICTOP10 listing and in the process displaced Sterling Investments that reentered the list last week, these were the only changes in and out of the ICTOP10.
More mid-year results were released during the week but had little or no effect on prices as the markets seemed to have suffered from mediocre demand by investors, but there appears some added interest in Caribbean Cement and GraceKennedy.
The PE Ratio of the TOP 10 Junior Market stocks trade at a 47 percent discount to the market average and Main Market stocks 54 percent, indications of the potential gains in these stocks compared with many of that are outside.
The top three stocks in the Junior Market, continue to be Elite Diagnostic, followed by Caribbean Assurance Brokers and Medical Disposables, with the potential to gain between 256 percent and 336 percent compared to 221 and 287 percent, last week. Medical Disposables continues the addition of new products to its portfolio that will add revenues and profit going forward. The acquisition of the 60 percent majority ownership in Cornwall Enterprises, will result in economies of scale and an expanded portfolio to market nationally to an expanded clientele.
The top three Main Market stocks are Radio Jamaica in the number one spot, followed by JMMB Group and Guardian Holdings, with expected gains of 191 to 296 percent, versus last weeks’ 184 to 296 percent. The Top10 Main Market leader Radio Jamaica continues to enjoy buying interest that is whittling away the supply of stocks on offer in the market. A barrage of new results are due this coming week as the final reporting day for the period will be Saturday this coming week.
This past week the average gains projected for the Junior Market, moved from 207 percent last week, back to 218 percent and Main Market stocks moved to 175 percent from 173 percent.
The Junior Market closed the week with an average PE 12.3 based on ICInsider.com’s 2021-22 earnings and currently trades well below the target of 20 as well as the recent historical average of 17, for the period to March this year based on 2020 earnings.
The JSE Main Market ended the week with an overall PE of 16.3, a little distance from the 19 the market ended at in March, suggesting a 17 percent rise at a PE of 19 and 23 percent at a PE of 20 from now to March 2022. The Main Market TOP 10 trades at a PE of 7.5, with a 54 percent discount to the PE of that market, well off the potential of 20.
For the Junior Market to trade at the historical average, the PE Ratio would have to rise 38 percent and requires a rise of 63 percent to reach the targeted PE of 20 by March 2022. Main Market stocks would have to rise by 17 percent to hit a PE of 19 and 23 percent to get to the target of 20. The Junior Market Top 10 stocks average PE is a mere 6.5, just 53 percent of the market average, indicating substantial gains ahead.
The TOP10 stocks are not always the best stocks in the market but ones that are most likely to be the best winners within a fifteen months period. IC ranked stocks to filter out the big winners, allowing investors to focus on potentially big winners and help to keep out emotional attachments to stocks.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to March 2022 and ranked in order of potential gains, based on likely increase for each company, taking into account the earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and result in movements in and out of the lists weekly. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.
Change in ICTOP10 picks
Mid-year results are now flowing unlike anything seen in the local market in recent years. Most companies reported gains in revenues and profits, but investors’ interest seems lukewarm in the aftermath of the results, even as interest in ICTOP10 number 1 stock, Radio Jamaica (RJR) continues to be robust as more investors turn their eyes to what is a major turnaround in fortunes.
GraceKennedy reported continued strong numbers, showing improvement in revenues and profit, so too did Caribbean Cement and Berger Paints. Investors don’t seem to buy into Berger’s major change in operations and the implication for profit from the major surge in revenues. Based on the six months numbers, the company’s earnings for 2021 is upgraded to $2 per share. All three Lasco companies reported improved revenues and profit for the June Quarter, but the stocks are stuck at prerelease prices.
Investors should ignore the lukewarm response now and accumulate some of these stocks to profit from later in the year when the inevitable buying comes in for them. Access Financial reported improved results for the June quarter after reporting modest gains in lending. NCB Financial also released results but the details suggest caution, with the performance being helped by onetime income or cost reduction. Jamaica Stock Exchange reported improved June quarter numbers, but improvement is not strong enough to justify the current price the stock trades at.
Sterling Investments returns to the TOP10 Main Market listing, after replacing Scotia Group that recorded a rise in its price from last weeks’ $38.75 to $42 at the close of trading on Friday. There are no changes in or out of the Junior Market list.
The top three stocks in the Junior Market, continue, with Elite Diagnostic, followed by Caribbean Assurance Brokers and Medical Disposables, with the potential to gain between 221 percent and 287 percent compared to 237 and 291 percent, last week. The top three Main Market stocks are Radio Jamaica in the number one spot, followed by JMMB Group and Guardian Holdings, with expected gains of 184 to 296 percent, versus last weeks’ 183 to 292 percent.
This past week the average gains projected for the Junior Market, moved up from 202 percent last week, back to 207 percent and Main Market stocks moved to 173 percent from 164 percent.
The Junior Market closed the week with an average PE 13.3 based on ICInsider.com’s 2021-22 earnings and currently trades well below the target of 20 as well as the recent historical average of 17, for the period to March this year based on 2020 earnings.
The JSE Main Market ended the week with an overall PE of 16.4, a little distance from the 19 the market ended at in March, suggesting just a 17 percent rise at a PE of 19 and 23 percent at a PE of 20 from now to March 2022. The Main Market TOP 10 trades at a PE of 7.6 or 46 percent of the PE of that market, well off the potential of 20.
For the Junior Market to trade at the historical average, the PE Ratio would have to rise 28 percent and requires a rise of 50 percent to reach the targeted PE of 20 by March 2022. Main Market stocks would have to rise by 17 percent to hit a PE of 19 and 23 percent to get to the target of 20. The Junior Market Top 10 stocks average PE is a mere 6.7, just 50 percent of the market average, indicating substantial gains ahead.
The TOP10 stocks are not always the best stocks in the market but ones that are most likely to be the best winners within a fifteen months period. IC ranked stocks to filter out the big winners, allowing investors to focus on potentially big winners and help to keep out emotional attachments to stocks.
IC TOP10 stocks are likely to deliver the best returns up to March 2022 and ranked in order of potential gains, based on likely increase for each company, taking into account the earnings and PE ratios for the current fiscal year. Expected values will change as stock prices fluctuate and result in movements in and out of the lists weekly. Revisions to earnings per share are ongoing, based on receipt of new information.
Persons who compiled this report may have an interest in securities commented on in this report.