You’re reading a copy of 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.
Friends,
The cannabis sector just put together back-to-back weekly gains after nine consecutive weekly declines. One of the hardest hit parts of the market in 2021 has been the American cannabis companies, which has been evident in the performance of the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (MSOS), but it looks like interest has surged in November. The ETF posted a 52-week low on November 4th at $25.70, leaving it then more than 53% below its all-time closing high on February 10th and down 29.6% year-to-date. In fact, it had declined 4.2% from a year earlier. Just six days later, though, the ETF has soared 24.8%:
MSOS Has Gained 25% in 6 Days
What’s driving the ETF higher is likely the talk of the pending introduction of the States Reform Act by Republican Representative Nancy Mace, a bill that would legalize cannabis federally with less FDA involvement and lower taxes compared to the Democratic legislation, the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. Another factor is that financial reports from some of the leading multi-state operators weren’t as bad as feared.
Perhaps more interesting than the price action in MSOS has been the surge in volume. Last week, 20 million shares traded, or roughly $600 million. In fact, it was not only a record week for the number of shares but also the dollars traded:
Record Number of Dollars Traded in MSOS
The surge in volume has been accompanied by unprecedented inflows into the ETF. This past week, the number of shares increased by 39%. To put the inflow into perspective, the 10.9 million shares issued this past week was almost three times higher than the 3.8 million shares issued in each of the first two weeks of the year.
MSOS Share Count Up 39% in Just 1 Week
The issuance of shares by the ETF infused it with approximately $330 million, $151 million of which remains to be invested potentially and could fuel additional gains in the underlying securities.
We reached out to the manager, but their visibility into the investors is limited. AdvisorShares CEO Noah Hammon suggests that the money has come from “a combination of retail/self directed, some advisors, and then probably hedge funds and family offices.” We struggle to understand how so much money could come in such a short period of time from such a broad array of investors, but we have no way to identify the source of funds. We have previously suggested that the ETF, which trades on the NYSE Arca, enables investors who are limited from investing in OTC or foreign listed securities. We continue to commend AdvisorShares for creating this novel workaround that has left MSOS with $1.24 billion assets under management.
From our vantage, it appears as if a large investor or perhaps a group of large investors is using this ETF to invest in American cannabis companies. The share issuances were spread out throughout the week. Here they are by day so far in November, with the ETF expanding its shares by 41.6%:
Shares Have Expanded by 41.6% in November
If the ETF continues to get inflows, it could help boost prices further, as the manager currently has $151 million in cash (12% of assets) that it will likely invest. As we noted in September, the vast majority of the positions are direct cannabis operators, and there are also a few ancillary companies as well as a CBD company. The ETF has added positions in two new names in the past week, Agrify and urban-gro, and it has added to many but not all of its prior positions thus far. We believe that additional investment into the sector by the fund could benefit even names not held by the ETF as other holders sell stocks in it that are rising and buy other stocks in the sector.
The surge in interest in this ETF earlier in the year followed a massive rally in Q4, when MSOS gained 46.6%, while the renewed interest follows an extended decline that has left the stocks of many of the leading cannabis operators and this ETF still down in 2021. We encourage our readers to pay attention to this new dynamic, as it could have a substantial impact on the performance of the stocks over the balance of the year.
urban-gro engineers & designs high-performance cultivation facilities
Located in the U.S. and operating globally, urban-gro has built over 300 controlled environment agriculture facilities, spanning over five million square feet. The company provides services to MSOs as well as Canadian LPs who require GMP certification. urban-gro, which trades on the NASDAQ, is seeing an insurmountable demand for sustainable controlled-environment agriculture facilities.
Get up to speed by visiting the urban-gro Investor Dashboard that we maintain on their behalf as a client of New Cannabis Ventures. Click the blue Follow Company button in order to stay up to date with their progress.
New Cannabis Ventures publishes curated articles as well as exclusive news. Here is some of the most interesting business content from this week:
- Ascend Wellness Q3 Revenue Increases 13% Sequentially to $94 Million
- AYR Wellness Borrows $150 Million at 9.8% for Three Years
- Cannabis Compliance Software Company Fyllo Raises $40 Million
- Cannabis Loyalty Software Company springbig to Go Public via SPAC
- Columbia Care Revises 2021 Outlook Lower After Q3 Revenue Increases 144% to $132 Million
- Cresco Labs Q3 Revenue Increases 3% Sequentially to $215 Million
- Curaleaf Q3 Revenue Increases 2% Sequentially to $317 Million as Adjusted EBITDA Slips 15%
- GrowGeneration Sees Weaker Q4 After Q3 Revenue Declines 8% Sequentially to $116 Million
- GTI Meets Expectations with 5% Sequential Growth to $234 Million in Q3
- Hydrofarm Q3 Revenue Declines 7% Sequentially to $128 Million
- Exclusive: Record Adult-Use Purchases Lead Michigan Cannabis Sales 59% Higher in October to $163.5 Million
- Exclusive: This NASDAQ-Listed Mortgage REIT is Lending Institutional Capital to Leading Cannabis Operators
- Verano to Enter Connecticut Cannabis Market with $113.25 Million Acquisition of Tuatara Owned Operator
- WM Technology Q3 Revenue Increases 9% to $51 Million as Company Projects $50-52 Million Q4 Revenue
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Sincerely,
Alan & Joel
