highgreennews

• Despite a tough year for the industry, followed by the bigger economic downturn as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, analysts said they're optimistic about the cannabis market today.
• According to Michael Lavery of Piper Sandler, companies have had time to prove themselves and investors have a better idea of how they think the space will play out.
• Cowen's Vivien Azer said that the industry is seeing more institutional interest as a result and that she sees that interest tending to favor the operators that are already profitable.
• Analysts pointed to so

Researchers in the U.S. state of Florida are studying how hemp plants could help in the battle against toxic algae, a persistent problem at the state’s two coasts.

Steven Edmonds, founder of Hemp4Water and a political science instructor at Valencia College in Orlando, has teamed up with researchers from Florida State College on the initiative. The group said it will test grow hemp mats in Florida waterways to check their potential to clear nutrient pollution that feeds toxic blue-green algae and red tide algae.

The industry is now in a situation where tens of companies are fighting for a much smaller pie than forecasted

Some of the biggest cannabis players when legalization took effect 20 months ago have successfully held on to their dominant positions, despite a year of bankruptcies, downsizings, revoked licences, executive firings, mass layoffs and a long market selloff. 

Canopy Growth’s (WEED.TO)(CGC) chief executive officer expects the United States cannabis market to open up at the federal level as early as 2022 as pressure builds from state governments embracing recreational pot sales.

Marijuana stocks saw a good rise in May. Higher demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic led to increasing sales. Many cannabis companies reported good quarterly numbers last month—a recovery in the sector. Cannabis 2.0 products continue to launch, which could be the turnaround factor. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences ETF, which tracks the North American cannabis industry, rose 20%, while the SPDR S&P 500 ETF rose 7.6% in May. Let’s take a look at how the marijuana sector performed last month and what you can expect in June.

Marijuana is a high-growth industry. However, there are a few things you should know before investing in the green rush.

For years, there wasn't a hotter investment on Wall Street than cannabis stocks. Investors with the wherewithal and stomach to have invested in some of the most prominent pot stocks in 2016 or 2017 found themselves up, in some cases, by quadruple digits during the first quarter of 2019. In fact, more than a dozen pot stocks rocketed higher by at least 70% in Q1 2019.

A number of multistate marijuana operators are struggling, unloading assets, cutting jobs and overhead costs as well as scrapping expansion plans amid a looming recession and a shortage of investor funding.

But other MSOs are doing well financially: Cresco Labs, Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries and Trulieve, among others.

Tilray Inc., Acreage Holdings Inc., and Sunniva Inc. had the highest-paid executives and directors among cannabis companies, according to a new survey by Bedford Consulting Group.

The report examined the compensation of 437 executives and 449 board members at 96 pot firms. The data was collected in October, when the average cannabis share price was about one-third higher than it is today.

Hemp businesses are unlikely to receive coronavirus assistance from the USDA as the sector hasn’t suffered a 5% decline in prices.

Oklahoma's medical marijuana industry continues to break sales records.

Dispensaries remitted nearly $5.1 million via the state's 7% tax on cannabis, meaning customers spent approximately $73.8 million on medical marijuana in April, according to data released by state tax officials..

It's the fourth month in a row sales increased compared with the previous month, a trend that highlights a growing demand for the product more than a year after dispensaries first opened their doors.