Cannabis' biggest week of the summer is a major downer for pot investors
Nice timing... Just as Woodstock festers celebrated their 50th reunion, cannabis stocks enjoyed their busiest week of the summer. Two of the biggest publicly traded pot companies revealed their earnings from the last quarter, both showing that it's hard out there for cannabis companies.
- Tilray (-27% last week): The Candian cannabis icon sold 5.6K kilos of weed (triple what it did last year), but its loss doubled. It acquired hemp-based food creator Manitoba Harvest and more recently treated itself to a CBD candy company.
- Canopy (-14% last week): Earth's biggest pot producer sold a hefty 9K kilos of weed (with revenues almost quadrupling), but it also gets more broke each quarter — losses more than quadrupled.
It's actually been a tough weed summer... Canopy's media-savvy CEO was just fired by its big new investor because he wasn't moving fast enough on CBD-infused drinks for the US market. CannTrust shares hit an all-time low after authorities seized some illegally-grown cannabis. And Sundial Growers recently IPO'd but was caught selling pot with mold.
Weed profits won't come for years... Canopy's CEO admitted that it could be half a decade before it's profitable. So pot companies are shifting their geographic strategy to find some wholesome profits.
- The US opportunity is huge, but limited — Only 11 states + DC have legalized weed, so the market is mostly limited to hemp-derived CBD creams, oils, drinks, and adorable dog treats.
- And Canada's got an oversupply problem — Even though it's legal since last fall, they're producing more up north than the people want.
- So pot companies are looking to study abroad — Tilray is building a new growing facility in Portugal and Aurora just announced a deal with the Italian government.