You’re reading this week’s edition of the New Cannabis Ventures weekly newsletter, which we have been publishing since October 2015. The newsletter includes unique insight to help our readers stay ahead of the curve as well as links to the week’s most important news. We no longer send these by email as we did in the past, but we post this and all of the newsletters on our website here.
Friends,
With the first month of the year almost halfway complete, the Global Cannabis Stock Index has gained 0.3% to 6.61. While that’s better than cash, it lags the S&P 500, which has gained 1.2%, and especially the Russell 2000, which has surged 6.9%.
The Global Cannabis Stock Index has declined in each of the past five years, falling 4.2% in 2025, which was its best performance annually since the last gain in 2020. The cannabis sector is so beaten down and is due for a rally, but most betting on that outcome have lost money.
The index was rebalanced at year-end, with three stocks exiting and two entering, which left the index holding 27 stocks. In 2026, 17 are up so far, with two-double digit percentage gains, and 10 have declined, including three that are down more than 20%. Here is a table that includes all of the companies and some additional information:
The average market cap is $1.1 billion. MSOS is up 4.7% year-to-date, and the index holds 7 MSOs, all of which have gained. The last column shows that five of these seven have negative tangible book value, suggesting downside risk potentially for those that carry substantial debt.
I closely follow 16 of the 27 names: Canopy Growth, Cresco Labs, Cronos Group, Curaleaf, GrowGeneration, Green Thumb Industries, Innovative Industrial Properties, WM Technology, Organigram, Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Trulieve, Tilray Brands, TerrAscend, Village Farms and Verano. I have paid attention to most of the others and have written about RYTHM and SNDL at Seeking Alpha.
The decliners include two recent additions, which has made me give more thought to the rules for inclusion. These two as well as another have very low market caps. They all met the minimum price rule and the minimum average daily trading value criterion, and they are in the cannabis sector. The next rebalancing, which will take place in March, may include some new rules.
The overall stock market is rallying, but cannabis stocks aren’t yet capturing much attention from investors. The stocks in the index, up just 0.3% year-to-date, trade on average near their 50-day and 150-day moving averages. MSOs are helping the market so far, while a few stocks are hurting it. My model portfolio at 420 Investor, which did very well in 2025, is outpacing the index so far in 2026. I am very underweight MSOs relative to the index, holding two, am a little overweight the Canadian LPs (three names), and have a large overweighting in ancillaries (four names). The model portfolio had cash of 19% on 1/14.
The cannabis industry is suffering from slow growth, increasing competition, a slowdown in states going legal for adult-use, an uncertain regulatory environment at the federal level and very unfair taxes (280E). Hopefully, things improve in 2026!
Sincerely,
Alan
New Cannabis Ventures publishes curated articles as well as exclusive news. Here is what we published this past week:
Exclusives
Michigan Cannabis Sales Were Soft in December
Financial Reports
Tilray Brands Reports Q2 Cannabis Revenue Grew 5%
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