The Week In Cannabis: Stocks Down, More Celebrity Moves, Earnings And Policy News

This was a tough week for cannabis stocks, with all major ETFs closing in the red. Over the five trading days of the week:

The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJ: fell 7.5%
The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF YOLO: was down 6.7%
The Cannabis ETF THCX: lost 9.2%
The Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF CNBS: tumbled 5.7%
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was down 6.35%.

Rules & Regs

Councilman James Tate announced a proposed amendment to the Detroit City Code to allow adult-use recreational marijuana licensing in Detroit. The ordinance, which gives significant preference to long time Detroit residents in terms of the number of licenses issued, discounts on land and other incentives, will allow 10 types of licenses.

The people of New Zealand voted to reject the legalization of cannabis in the island nation, preliminary results of a referendum indicated Friday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

The United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) is slated to vote on cannabis recommendations from the World Health Organization (WHO) on Dec. 2. The vote casts a decision on a series of recommendations for THC and CBD products, including pharmaceutical cannabis products like Marinol, Syndros and Sativex.

If passed, the effects could be significant for consumers and the global industry. Read all about it here.

Cannabis Gets Some Celebrity Love

Jay-Z's Monogram, which debuted last week, unveiled a nationwide awareness campaign drawing attention to the arbitrary borders between state lines that still determine who can benefit from cannabis, whether that be through entrepreneurship or the positive effects of its use.

Timed to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, which classified cannabis as a Schedule I drug, the campaign involved parking LED and mobile billboard trucks across the most starkly contrasting legal/illegal borders of cannabis legislation in the country.

“For so long, cannabis culture has been marred by the effects of the Controlled Substances Act and stigmatized by political agendas," Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, told Benzinga. "While there has been progress, as we launch MONOGRAM, we felt it was imperative that we call out the arbitrary borders that still demarcate who can benefit from cannabis, whether that’s through business or the positive effects of its use.”

Academy Award-winner Gwyneth Paltrow, as well as Ruby Rose, Rebel Wilson, Darren Criss, Baron Davis, Tove Lo, Casey Neistat and Calesha Murray (aka Bre-Z) are backing cannabis beverage brand Cann. "Cann sits at the intersection of two powerful trends… the 'sober curious' and 'cannabis curious' movements," Paltrow said.

BET is set to release Smoke: Marijuana + Black America, a two-hour special original documentary featuring Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Senator Kamala D. Harris and rapper Nasir “Nas” Jones. In addition, the documentary features Senator Cory Booker, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Cook County, Illinois State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Representative Barbara Lee, former NBA player and cannabis investor Al Harrington, WNBA star Cheyenne Parker, former NFL star Ricky Williams, rapper B-Real of Cypress Hill, award-winning music artist Ty Dolla $ign, son of Notorious B.I.G. C.J. Wallace, Columbia University PhD Professor Carl Hart and others.

Earnings

Hollister Biosciences Inc. HOLL HSTRF reported CA$12.5 million in revenue for the third quarter of 2020. The Vancouver-based company also posted CA$1.265 million in EBITDA, coming from its product line of pre-rolls, concentrates, distillates, solvent-free bubble hash, pre-packaged flower, tinctures, and vape products.

On the heels of releasing preliminary fourth-quarter earnings, cbdMD Inc. YCBD revealed its CBD pet products brand saw yet another record quarter of net sales to be as high as $1.65 million. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company expects the Paw CBD brand to generate around $6 million in net sales for this calendar year.

Power REIT PW reported financial results for the third quarter and nine-month period, ending Sept. 30. In the third quarter, the company’s net income amounted to $506,006 — up by roughly 148% year-over-year.

TILT Holdings Inc. TILT TLLTF revealed its revenue for the third quarter may reach $41 million. That’s a sequential increase between 4% and 6%.

Namaste Technologies Inc. N NXTTF reported a 49% year-over-year increase in net revenue, reaching CA$5.6 million in the third quarter.

HEXO Corp. HEXO HEXO revealed fourth quarter and fiscal year financial results on the heels of appointing Emilio Imbriglio to its board. The Ottawa-based cannabis company noted its revenue from the sale of goods amounted to CA$36.1 million in the third quarter, up by 17% sequentially and 76% year-over-year.

KushCo Holdings Inc. KSHB also released its fourth-quarter earnings report, posting $26.5 million in revenue.

Delta 9 Cannabis. Inc. DN VRNDF said it expects to generate between $12.9 million and $13.2 million in the third quarter, compared to $6.7 million in the corresponding quarter of last year and $13 million in the prior period.

For the quarter ended Aug. 31, Liberty Health Sciences Inc. LHS LHSIF’s consolidated net sales amounted to approximately CA$18.2 million for the second quarter, versus CA$10.6 million in the same quarter last year.

Read all about these earnings reports and others in Benzinga Cannabis’ Earnings Center.

More News From The Week

Jazz Pharmaceuticals plc JAZZ announced it will buy assets from SpringWorks Therapeutics Inc. SWTX for an upfront payment of $35 million. The Dublin, Ireland-based company agreed to make additional payments to SpringWorks of up to $375 million should certain milestones be reached.

The deal centers around the potential treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, including anxiety symptoms in cannabis use disorder.

Green Thumb Industries GTI GTBIF confirmed that an undisclosed institutional investor bought 5.5 million subordinated voting shares in the company for $79 million.

The shares were disposed of by an LLC controlled by GTI chief executive Ben Kovler.

Latin American cannabis producer Blueberries Medical BBM BBRRF announced on Monday the resignation of CEO Camilo Villalba.

Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc. NEPT NEPT partnered with Ontario Cannabis Store to sell and distribute Mood Ring, a new proprietary recreational product line. Under the supply deal, the Mood Ring product line would be commercialized in 211 Ontario-based private retailers.

Turning Point Brands Inc. TPB agreed to invest $15 million in Dosist. The two companies opted to co-create a new CBD brand featuring thc-free products.

Benzinga Cannabis’ content is now available in Spanish on El Planteo.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Pablo Zuanic downgraded Aurora Cannabis ACB ACB from Overweight to Neutral and lowers the price target from C$18 to C$7. Find out why the analyst is no longer bullish on the Canadian company in this article.

Real Brands Inc. RLBD finalized the acquisition of Canadian American Standard Hemp Inc.

Israeli medical cannabis company Univo Pharmaceuticals Ltd. UNVO agreed to a U.K. distribution deal.

4Front Ventures Corp. FFNT FFNTF is poised to secure some $30 million in financing through a partnership with Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. IIPR. The Phoenix-based company entered into sale-leaseback agreements with the cannabis REIT at its cultivation and production facilities in Tumwater, Washington, and Georgetown, Massachusetts.

Pacific Consolidated Holdings Group Inc. (PCH) acquired two delivery services — Saucey and Emjay. The company plans to merge Saucey, which specializes in alcohol delivery, with Emjay, a cannabis delivery platform.

Willow Industries announced the launch of the WillowPure360, a new generation of cannabis and hemp decontamination technology. The system uses ozone to remove microbials from the cannabis plant after harvest in a safe, organic way that maintains the quality and value of the crop.

“The processes and technologies used to clean cannabis have made great strides over the last few years, but we saw opportunity to improve on these practices in a way that protects growers’ bottom lines and keeps consumers safe,” said Jill Ellsworth, founder and CEO of Willow. “Willow takes great pride in developing technology that empowers cultivators to feel confident in their harvests as it moves through the supply chain, and we hope to continue driving evolution that addresses systemic issues plaguing the cannabis industry.”

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Rules & Regs

Cannabis Gets Some Celebrity Love

Earnings

More News From The Week

Top Stories Of The Week:

The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference is coming to Florida