It’s been a rough summer for cannabis.
Stock prices for several marijuana companies have plummeted due to worse-than-expected revenues from sales of legal cannabis in Canada and various corporate scandals.
Over the past three months, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) has fallen 21%, while the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO) has fallen 23%. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) rose 3% over the same period:
Source: StockCharts.com; data as of July 31, 2019
Weaker-Than-Expected Earnings
One of the most significant factors driving the sector lower has been weaker-than-expected earnings reported from several cannabis companies in Canada, where recreational marijuana was fully legalized for adult use late last year.
In their latest earnings calls, Canopy Growth, Cronos Group, Aurora Cannabis, OrganiGram and other market leaders all reported losses for Q3 2018, the period in which legalization was implemented.
Over the month of July, Canopy Growth’s stock price fell 21%, Cronos Group’s fell 13%, Aurora Cannabis’ fell 20% and OrganiGram’s fell 10%.
Top Holdings in Cannabis ETFs
Sources: ETF.com, issuer websites; data as of July 31, 2019
