Interestingly, XXII was mentioned in New Cannabis Ventures' weekly email update today:
Friends,
Trading volumes exploded this week for the Canadian LPs, as investors continued to dive into the market following last week’s announcement of the C$5 billion investment by Constellation Brands into Canopy Growth, as speculation heats up regarding other cross-industry and/or cross-border investments into the sector. Reports Friday that alcohol giant Diageo is on the prowl acted as gasoline on the proverbial fire.
The three largest names on the TSX saw dollar volumes in excess of C$250 million on Friday. Canopy Growth averaged almost C$650 million per day during the week, just on the TSX. What is even more remarkable, though, is the U.S. volume for the three LPs with listings on the NASDAQ or NYSE, Canopy Growth, Cronos Group and Tilray.
During the week, the U.S dollar volume exceeded the Canadian volume for Cronos and Canopy Growth. In fact, on Friday, the total trading value of the three names was just above US$1.8 billion, with Canopy Growth accounting for over US$1 billion. It is clear that U.S. traders are piling in to the names that have NYSE or NASDAQ listings.
Cannabis stocks on major U.S. exchanges remain in an exclusive club. In addition to the three LPs, Innovative Industrial Properties and GW Pharma trade on the NYSE and NASDAQ, respectively, as do some other companies that aren’t pure-play, including 22nd Century Group, Scotts Miracle-Gro and Alliance One International. We expect the club to get bigger, and this may negatively impact the three LPs, as their valuations seem to be boosted a bit by their listing status.
Two obvious choices for moving from the OTC to a higher exchange are Aphria and Aurora Cannabis. Other TSX-listed companies like CannTrust, Green Organic Dutchman and Hydropothecary are likely to do the same. Several companies have publicly disclosed that they are in the process, including CV Sciences, Namaste Technologies and Sunniva (the Canadian spin-out).
It remains to be seen if the exchanges will allow ancillary companies like GrowGeneration or Kush Bottles to list, though we note that a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) that intends to operate in the ancillary cannabis space, MTech Acquisition Corp., conducted an IPO earlier this year and trades on the NASDAQ. We think it’s more likely that this sub-sector will have success in this regard than companies that operate directly in the industry.
To summarize, U.S. investors appear to be piling into a small group of cannabis companies that we expect to get larger in the near future. Investors might want to factor this in, as the diminished scarcity value could pressure some stocks, while the larger audience could benefit some others.
AI
