Government aid is still not on the cards for cannabis companies, so investors are looking at the balance sheets for cash. At the same time, the majority of banks don’t offer loans to the cannabis industry. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, overseas cannabis companies are converting and relying on delivery, ordering cannabis online with all innovative aspects from app to drone.
For the second-straight month, Oregon broke sales records for legal marijuana.
There is one bright spot in the economy: marijuana sales.
In April, Oregon saw $89 million in legal marijuana sales. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission reports marijuana sales were up 45% in April, compared to last year, making April 2020 the largest month on record for the state.
Canadian cannabis company Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) has turned around in recent weeks. While the stock is down 50% year to date, it’s up 26% for the last month. It’s been a volatile year for marijuana stocks so far.
Tilray closed at $8.16 Tuesday, up 2.51%. The S&P 500 closed down 1.05%. Tilray’s consensus 12-month price target is $17.88.
Aurora Cannabis Inc. stock rampaged Monday, with U.S.-traded shares surging nearly 53% in a continued response to better-than-expected earnings last week.
Shares of Aurora closed up $5.90 to $17.10.
Aurora has made strides in its reorganization plan announced in February, according to Ladenburg Thalmann analyst Glenn Mattson.
For more than two months now, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted economic activity to a degree we've never previously witnessed. All told, the U.S. unemployment rate is nearing 15%, which is a level unseen since the Great Depression.
At first glance, they don’t seem to have much in common: college administrators seeking new revenue sources because their students have all gone home, and displaced workers looking into the legal cannabis industry because it’s still hiring during the pandemic. But the groups are converging. Five universities (with more in the pipeline) are working with Green Flower Media to provide coursework on growing, testing and selling legal cannabis.
A new national survey conducted by Leafly and the National Cannabis Roundtable has found that tens of thousands of jobs could be saved if Congress were to allow federal COVID-19 stimulus funds to flow through to state-legal companies.
A national cannabis trade group is publicly calling for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to keep its hands off of medical marijuana research. Doctors and public health officials—not law enforcement—should be in charge of regulating clinical cannabis research, they say.
Colorado became the first state in the nation to legalize recreational cannabis back in 2012. Eight years later, during a historic pandemic that has confined much of the public to their homes, Colorado is on schedule to be the last state to allow for widespread legal marijuana delivery.
This comes even as we rely on mail order or delivery for prescription medications, groceries or other essentials.
The cannabis industry has seen two major upward surges in the last 5 years, the first came with the national legalization of cannabis in Canada which was subsequently followed up by many states in the United States and the second has come during this COVID-19 pandemic.
