Marijuana News Today: Canada Continues to Expand Marijuana Market…

Marijuana News Today

The marijuana news today sees Canada expanding the pot business while marijuana penny stocks continue to climb.

First, let’s cover the expansion of the Canadian marijuana market for private-sector businesses.

Ontario, Canada’s largest and richest province, will be holding a lottery to see which companies will be lucky enough to obtain one of the 25 retail store licenses that will allow private businesses to open up storefronts for pot sales. (Source: “Lottery for 25 Ontario retail cannabis licences to take place next week,” Global News, January 3, 2019.)

As it stands, weed is only legally available in Ontario via a government-run web site.

The provincial government says it’s limiting the number of retail licenses in response to the marijuana shortage that has plagued the country in the wake of legalization.

Ontario’s provincial government claims that only the feds can rectify the supply shortage (the two levels of government are run by opposing parties) and that, until then, limits will need to be enacted.

The main takeaway for investors is that some of the largest marijuana producers in the world are now going to be able to gain physical access to  Canada’s largest regional market.

All eyes will be on the spread of marijuana in the Canadian metropolis of Toronto. With millions of potential customers ready to indulge, brick-and-mortar storefronts in Canada’s largest city are sure to draw interest and increase sales.

This is important for marijuana companies because, with no major events on the horizon, sales figures are going to be among the main drivers for marijuana stock growth.

While quarterly figures have always been important, their primacy in marijuana stock price movement will grow as the first significant numbers post-legalization come in.

Being able to operate a physical storefront in a lucrative region of Canada will undoubtedly boost sales and help keep marijuana stocks rising.

It’s worth noting that there are restrictions on how many storefronts a single business can own in Ontario, but that won’t limit companies’ abilities to peddle their products across the province—though it will limit their chance to create unique branding.

The next thing to watch for is the result of the license lottery and await sales to begin on April 1 in Ontario. The sales numbers will likely be the largest in the country, and therefore will help drive the success of whichever pot companies can capitalize on the ever-expanding market.

HYYDF Stock

One of the recent success stories in the marijuana stock market is Hexo Corp (OTCMKTS:HYYDF, TSE:HEXO).

Hexo stock’s recent surge in price has made me look good—I’ve long championed this stock as one of my favorite picks in the entire weed stock market.

HYYDF stock has jumped by 31% over the past five days, adding another strong gain of seven percent in early-morning trading today.

So what accounts for the success of Hexo stock? Well, there hasn’t been any major news event or major deal that sparked the stock’s rise. Instead, investors are jumping on a marijuana stock that was already a bargain before the recent correction. At its new even lower price, it’s practically a steal.

The company’s Q1 2019 earnings release in December bolstered HYYDF stock, but that was several weeks ago, and it doesn’t account for the stock’s continued success (although it did help).

But what is really going in Hexo stock’s favor is the company’s many strong fundamentals.

Between a multi-year supply agreement with Canada’s second-largest province—Quebec—and the company’s cannabis-infused drink partnership with Molson Coors Brewing Co (NYSE:TAP), Hexo has the attributes of a major stock with a penny stock price.

As such, I expect that HYYDF stock will continue to outperform many of its competitors for years to come, and Hexo remains my No. 1 marijuana penny stock.

CGC Stock

Since we’re covering my favorite marijuana stocks, I’d be remiss to leave out Canopy Growth Corp (NYSE:CGC).

Unlike Hexo, CGC stock is hardly under the radar. Rather, Canopy Growth is among the most prominent, largest, and richest marijuana companies in the world. In the eyes of many, it is still considered the industry leader—even though it lost its spot as the company with the top market cap in the cannabis industry for a time.

Canopy Growth stock jumped about two percent in early-morning trading today and is up about five percent over the past five days.

This has been a relatively positive week in the marijuana stock market overall, but the future is particularly bright for CGC stock.

Counting strong partnerships and trade deals in Canada among its accomplishments, Canopy Growth has always been an innovator and first mover in the marijuana sector.

Regarding the newly passed 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp farming in the United States, Canopy Growth has said it hopes to leverage this new law in order to enter the U.S. market.

This is a bold and powerful move into what is undoubtedly the Holy Grail of the marijuana market: the U.S.

While still some ways away from full legalization (or even medical marijuana legalization) on a national level, the hemp legalization opens the door for other cannabis-related products to hit store shelves, with a lot of eyes on the extremely lucrative cannabidiol (CBD) business.

Everything that made CGC stock so powerful over the past few years remains in place today, with a ton of potential still packed inside this industry leader.

HYYDF and CGC Stock Performances

The performances of HYYDF stock (black line) and CGC stock (blue line) over the past week are seen on the chart below:

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com

Analyst Take

The marijuana news today has us celebrating Canada’s continued expansion of its legal cannabis market.

With retail licenses soon to be given out in the highly populated province of Ontario, we’re likely to see a boost in legal sales that will be reflected in stronger quarterly reports after April 1.

The next step is for Canada to get its supply shortage under control. But overall, this is positive news with strong implications for future growth in the pot stock market.