After breaking a long negative streak in July of 17 consecutive months down with a rally of 4.3%, the Global Cannabis Stock Index fell 1.3% in August. In September, it posted a new all-time closing low on 9/30 at 11.26 and ended the month down 25.9%. In October and November, it rallied to 13.67. In December, after an early lift, the index moved to an all-time low before rallying slightly. For the month, it fell 29.0% to 9.71:
The index fell 23.7% in Q3 and then rallied 21.4% in the first two months of Q4. It ended the quarter down 13.8% and was down 70.4% in 2022:
Since the peak in February 2021, the Global Cannabis Stock Index has dropped 89.5% from the 92.48 closing high:
The strongest 4 names in December all rose or fell by less than 10%:
- Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ): +1.5%
- Turning Point Brands (NYSE: TPB): -1.8%
- Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance (NASDAQ: REFI): -7.0%
- AFC Gamma (NASDAQ: AFCG): -10.0%
The best stocks were not cannabis operators. In fact, the two best performing companies are diversified and only partially involved in the cannabis industry. Jazz Pharma, which bought GW Pharma last year, rallied in December and by 19.5% in Q4. Turning Point Brands was up 1.9% during the quarter. The other two, Chicago Atlantic and AFC Gamma, are mortgage REITS. Chicago Atlantic rose 4.6% during the quarter, and AFC Gamma increased 2.8%.
The 4 weakest names in December all declined by more than 46%:
- Ayr Wellness (OTC: AYRWF) (CSE: AYR.A): -56.6%
- Columbia Care (OTC: CCHWF) (CSE: CCHW) (NEO: CCHW): -55.4%
- Hempacco (NASDAQ: HPCO): -46.5%
- Cresco Labs (OTC: CRLBF) (CSE: CL): -46.3%
Three of the four poorest performing stocks in the index were MSOs, and the other is a recent IPO that was spun out of an OTC sub-penny stock. Ayr Wellness and Hempacco were among the weakest names in November, and they both fell substantially in Q4. Ayr Wellness dropped 49.4%m, while Hempacco fell 63.6%. Columbia Care and Cresco Labs, which plan to close their pending merger in Q1, were down 40.0% and 33.6%, respectively, during the quarter.
We have rebalanced the index effective at the close today. We lowered the minimum price from $1.00 to $0.50 as we continued to require an average of $800K per day of trading value. Joining the index, which will decline from 28 names to 25, are two Canadian LPs, HEXO Corp (NASDAQ: HEXO) (TSX: HEXO) and Organigram (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI). Leaving the index are AgriFORCE (NASDAQ: AGRI), BYND Cannasoft Enterprises (NASDAQ: BCAN) (CSE: BYND), Bright Green (NASDAQ: BGXX), Hempacco and Chicago Atlantic Real Estate Finance . Bright Green’s price was too low, and all of them failed to meet the minimum daily trading value.
We will summarize the index performance again in a month. You can learn more about the index members and the qualifications for inclusion by visiting the Global Cannabis Stock Index. Be sure to bookmark the page to stay current on cannabis stock price movements within the day or from day-to-day. A more complete analysis of the index is available at 420Investor.com.
New Cannabis Ventures maintains seven proprietary indices designed to help investors monitor the publicly-traded cannabis stocks, including the Global Cannabis Stock Index as well as the Canadian Cannabis LP Index and its three sub-indices. The sixth index, the American Cannabis Operator Index, was launched at the end of October 2018 and tracks the leading cultivators, processors and retailers of cannabis in the United States. More recently, we introduced the Ancillary Cannabis Index at the end of March 2021, reflecting the increasing number of publicly-traded companies providing goods or services to cannabis operators.
