Horizons Medical Marijuana Life Sciences ETF (TSX: HMMJ) (OTC: HMLSF), the world’s first and still only cannabis ETF, has adjusted its portfolio this month as its benchmark, the North American Marijuana Index, was updated in a quarterly rebalancing. The fund manages a portfolio that was valued at C$139mm as of September 19th.

Soloactive, which maintains the index, has minimum market capitalization and daily trading value requirements and describes the index:

The North American Marijuana Index tracks the performance of a basket of North American publicly listed companies with significant business activities in the marijuana industry. A company is deemed to be eligible for inclusion in the index by the Index Provider if the company is a producer and/or supplier of marijuana and/or cannabis, biotechnology companies that are engaged in research and development of cannabinoids, companies that offer hydroponics supplies and equipment clearly aiming to increase efficiency in marijuana cultivation and companies mainly engaged in leasing property to cannabis growers.The index is calculated as a gross total return index in CAD and adjusted quarterly.

Here is the complete list of holdings as of September 18th:

The index does not include four of the names in HMMJ, including Arena Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ARNA), Hydropothecary (TSXV: THCX) (OTC: HYYDF), Emerald Health (TSXV: MJN) (OTC: EMHTF) and ICC International Cannabis Corp (TSXV: ICC) (OTC: ICCLF), while it includes two names that HMMJ excludes, Liberty Health Sciences (CSE: LHS) (OTC: SCQBF) and Marapharm Ventures (CSE: MDM) (OTC: MRPHF).

The fund has recently added MedReleaf (TSX: LEAF) (OTC: MEDFF) and has also increased its exposure to Insys Therapeutics (INSY)  following the index adjustments. HMMJ’s top six holdings represent 59.3% of the portfolio, with the remaining exposure spread among 15 names. Large Canadian LPs comprise 39.5% of the ETF, with Canadian LPs representing a total of 62.7%. HMMJ has no exposure to the U.S. legal cannabis market except very indirectly through its positions in Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) and 22nd Century Group (NYSEMKT: XXII). The balance of the exposure is to primarily biotech stocks, most of which are developing synthetic cannabinoids.

Exclusive article by Alan Brochstein, CFA

Based in Houston, Alan leverages his experience as founder of online community 420 Investor, the first and still largest due diligence platform focused on the publicly-traded stocks in the cannabis industry. With his extensive network in the cannabis community, Alan continues to find new ways to connect the industry and facilitate its sustainable growth. At New Cannabis Ventures, he is responsible for content development and strategic alliances. Before shifting his focus to the cannabis industry in early 2013, Alan, who began his career on Wall Street in 1986, worked as an independent research analyst following over two decades in research and portfolio management. A prolific writer, with over 650 articles published since 2007 at Seeking Alpha, where he has 70,000 followers, Alan is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a frequent source to the media, including the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and Bloomberg TV. Contact Alan: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email