The cannabis world received mixed news last week. On the one hand, the House Financial Services Committee voted in favor of a bill that would allow marijuana businesses to work with banks and credit unions, the SAFE Banking Act, allowing it to advance to the House floor. On the other hand, the state of New Jersey cancelled its vote on a bill that would legalize recreational cannabis due to a lack of support from legislators.
“There have been so many advancements in cannabis, that many in the industry just feel like there will be no barriers in the way,†Debra Borchard, CEO of Green Market Report, told Benzinga. “However, New Jersey was a good reminder that there are still lots of people with concerns. It's still an infant industry with a long way to go.â€
Commenting on the SAFE Banking Act, Kyle Detwiler, CEO of Northern Swan Holdings said, “This is a great step forward for the industry as a whole, and this should improve efficiency and worker safety... We hope this is a stepping stone towards full legalization which will allow greater competition, product innovation and patient health.â€
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Morgan Fox, spokesperson for the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), noted that, “The strong bipartisan support for the SAFE Banking Act in this committee is a good sign of how it will perform when it comes up for a vote on the floor of the House. The legal cannabis industry isn't going anywhere, and as more states regulate cannabis it is increasingly important that it be able to access financial services for the safety of businesses and their employees, to increase transparency, and to make more capital available to small businesses and communities that have been most harmed by prohibition.â€
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Marijuana Stocks & ETFs
Over the last five trading days, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (OTC: HMLSF) (TSE:HMMJ) lost 3.8 percent, while the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE: MJ) tumbled 1.25 percent. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE: SPY) closed the period up almost 1.2 percent.
Here are some of the top marijuana stocks (market cap above $400 million) in U.S. exchanges and how the performed over the last five trading days:
• Acreage Holdings (OTC: ACRZF): down 6.2 percent
• Aphria Inc (NYSE: APHA): down 2.2 percent
• Aurora Cannabis Inc (NYSE: ACB): up 0.3 percent
• CannTrust Holdings Inc (NYSE: CTST): down 19.4 percent
• Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE: CGC): down 2.3 percent
• Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON): down 4.2 percent
• Curaleaf Holdings Inc (OTC: CURLF): down 5 percent
• Green Growth Brands Inc (OTC: GGBXF): down 1.7 percent
• Green Organic Dutchman Holdings Ltd (OTC: TGODF): up 1.3 percent
• Green Thumb Industries Inc (OTC: GTBIF): down 3.2 percent
• GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR (NASDAQ: GWPH): down 0.15 percent
• Hexo Corp (NYSE: HEXO): up 4.1 percent
• Harvest Health & Recreation Inc (OTC: HRVSF): down 1.3 percent
• iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc (OTC: ITHUF): down 5.6 percent
• Marimed Inc (OTC: MRMD): up 1 percent
• MedMen Enterprises Inc. (OTC: MMNFF): down 5.15 percent
• OrganiGram Holdings Inc (OTC: OGRMF): down 1.75 percent
• Scotts Miracle-Gro Co (NYSE: SMG): up 2.8 percent
• Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY): down 2.4 percent
In Other News
Ignite International, the cannabis company founded by Dan Bilzerian, announced the hire of Curtis Heffernan as its new SVP and global head of sales. Heffernan, who previously held tenured positions at Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG) and Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ)’s Cadbury Schweppes, will fully manage revenue sales streams and will be responsible for overseeing all sales activities.
“I am very excited to be joining the Ignite team and driving the company's mission to become the first global super-premium cannabis and CBD brand. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Ignite's top tier management team and leverage my experience to grow the Ignite brand within an industry that is primed for explosive growth,†said Heffernan in a press release.
The U.S. subsidiary of iAnthus Capital Holdings announced the acquisition of CBD For Life, a national brand of CBD products, in an all-stock deal valued at $13.7 million.
Cronos Group reported 250-percent revenue growth for the fourth quarter, albeit amidst a big net loss.
Canopy Growth announced a collaboration with actor Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg, to launch an adult-use cannabis cultivation brand, Houseplant.
Feals launched a “digitally-native†CBD and wellness brand focused on delivering the highest-quality, premium CBD right to consumers’ doorsteps. The company seeks to usher a new approach to the far-reaching benefits of this powerhouse ingredient to the masses with a D2C platform that brings quality ingredients, transparent sourcing practices, and an education and data-backed conversational commerce hotline to show customers a better way to feel better using CBD.
“Our hemp is hand harvested from family farms in CO and Oregon following organic farming practices. We take a conscious approach to every Feals product made, providing only pure, high quality ingredients and third party testing every step of the way,†said co-founder Drew Todd.
Microcap Applied DNA Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: APDN) closed up 32 percent Friday after the company announced a new cannabis tracking deal with cannabis consultancy TheraCann.
California-based Grupo Flor developed what it claims is the cannabis industry’s first commodity trading desk, to connect buyers and sellers for the purchase and sale of raw cannabis materials. Traders began using the platform this month in the California THC market, executing several million dollars worth of trades. The desk rapidly expanded into the national CBD market using the company's established network of farmers in Colorado, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and West Virginia, and will soon add Colombia as the first international sourcing pipeline.
“We created a more efficient exchange for buyers and sellers by solving two critical problems,†said Grupo Flor CEO Paul Henderson. “Buyers are sourcing raw materials from an array of entities and many of the products are inconsistent and unreliable. On the flip side, these sellers don’t have the support and logistics infrastructure to efficiently sell and transport their product. We believe this trading platform is a win-win for the entire industry.â€
Shineco Inc (NASDAQ: TYHT) announced a partnership with Heilongjiang Zhenye Agricultural Technology Development Co. to construct the largest planting and processing base for industrial hemp in China. A potential acquisition of Zhenye Agricultural is also in the books.
The Minority Cannabis Business Association (MCBA) announced plans to score the effectiveness of social equity policies recently implemented by the city of Los Angeles, which are designed to help communities, families and individuals who have been harmed by the War on Drugs. Years of systemic racism, harsh drug sentencing laws, and disproportionate policing have all heavily contributed to the detriment of communities of color and social equity programs are designed to reinvest in those communities and help those most harmed with entering the industry.
The case study utilizes an “Equity Equation,†which provides a grading system to rate the effectiveness of municipal social equity programs based on several separate factors that have been determined to play a major role in the success or failure of these policies. While these social equity programs are being implemented in cities across the country, their intended outcomes are often not being met.
One factor commonly cited as a barrier to entry for people of color to find a place in the cannabis industry, regardless of policies in place, is a lack of available capital. A similar equity study was recently conducted in Oakland, Sacramento and San Francisco, and will soon be conducted in Denver. The goal is to reexamine those policies and to revise them until they meet those intended outcomes in an effort to develop an effective and repeatable model.