Cannabis stocks, as measured by the Global Cannabis Stock Index, passed the anniversary a year go when they exploded higher in late August on news that the Department of Health and Human Services had recommended to the DEA that it move cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 with a weak month this August. The index had soared on the last day in April, when the DEA shared that it was officially recommending that rescheduling that had been requested, but it plunged in May and moved lower in June. In July and in the first part of August, the GCSI moved higher, but cannabis stocks fell sharply after the DEA announced late on August 26th that it was holding a hearing on December 2nd. For the month, the index was down 7.5% to 8.44:
In 2023, the index ended down 16.5% to 8.11. In Q1, it rose 26.0%, and it was down 15.8% in Q2. The index is still up in 2024, rising 4.1% so far:
Since the peak in February 2021, the Global Cannabis Stock Index has dropped 90.9% from the 92.48 closing high:
The strongest 3 names in August all rose by more than 10%:
- AFC Gamma (NASDAQ: AFCG): +16.6%
- High Tide (NASDAQ: HITI) (TSXV: HITI): +20.9%
- Organigram (NASDAQ: OGI) (TSX: OGI): +10.1%
AFC Gamma, which had a spin-out in July for which the performance has been adjusted, was strong and is up a lot in Q3 so far at +26.8%. High Tide is up year-to-date but has dropped by 7.7% so far in Q3. Organigram, up sharply so far in 2024, has increased by 20.1% in Q3.
The 3 weakest names in August all fell by more than 28%:
- Canopy Growth (NASDAQ: CGC) (TSX: WEED): -31.4%
- Kaival Brands Innovation (NASDAQ: KAVL): -30.4%
- Curaleaf (OTC: CURLF) (TSX: CURA): -28.0%
Canopy Growth is still up year-to-date, but the stock has dropped 19.2% in Q3. Curaleaf is down sharply in 2024 and has dropped 25.2% in Q3 so far. Kaival Brands, which was very strong in June but led the way lower in July, has dropped 56.4% in Q3.
We will summarize the index performance again in a month and provide an update on the quarterly rebalancing. 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.
New Cannabis Ventures maintains four 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. 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.
