An Industry That Could Be A "Savior"

A few years ago, the investing world was enthralled with the idea that the marijuana industry was going to be the ‘next big investing trend.’ Unfortunately, for most who bought into the hype, the investments in the industry have not lived up to their promises. However, that may soon be changing.

The big marijuana players and their investors have all suffered over the years for several reasons. First, the industry is simply too fragmented for a single or handful of players to dominate the landscape. This is an issue because while competition is good, too much competition doesn’t allow individual companies in the industry to experience the power of ‘scale.’

What that means is, let’s say a marijuana company opens a farm. The farm may be large enough to produce 100 pounds, which is enough to cover the costs of the farm and the farmer. However, that 100 pounds aren’t enough to cover the cost of the transportation of the product from the farm, the distribution center, the security for the farm and distribution center, or the research and development so that the farmer can become more efficient and offer different strains. The fragmentation of the industry also hurts pricing power. The more competition means people trying to push product, perhaps simply to cover costs, means prices hit near rock bottom.

Another reason the industry has suffered is the very slow progress of legalizing marijuana both in most US States and the vast majority of countries around the world. With only a handful of states in the US having legalized the plant and the Federal Government still considering it a controlled substance, adoption rates around the country have been sluggish. When the industry was expecting to grow due to increasing numbers of legalized States rapidly, investors were pouring money into them. However, that money has begun drying up, which is now causing problems on balance sheets and debt levels. Continue reading "An Industry That Could Be A "Savior""

It May Be Time To Buy Marijuana ETFs

All the hype and excitement surrounding the marijuana industry over the past few years has finally died down. Unfortunately for some investors, who got caught up in the hype and excitement, are now realizing what some knew all along; the marijuana industry has a long way to go before it achieves its full potential.

But, regardless of whether you were an ‘early’ investor in the industry or someone who has been sitting on the sidelines, now is the time to start getting serious about marijuana funds. Over the past three months, the five marijuana ETFs have lost 30% or more of their value. Obviously, this is due to the marijuana industry as a whole, seeing their stock values decline. However, this means some of the stocks in the industry which had been trading at ‘lofty’ valuations have come back down to earth quite a bit.

Over the last three months, Tilray is down 45%, Canopy is down 38%, Aurora is down 42%, Cronos is off by 40%. These are some of the big names in the marijuana industry and stocks held by the marijuana ETFs; ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), AdvisoreShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO) , Cambria Cannabis ETF (TOKE), The Cannabis ETF (THCX), and Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF (CNBS).

But why is now the time to start buying? Continue reading "It May Be Time To Buy Marijuana ETFs"

5 Marijuana ETFs You Can Invest In Today

Until April Exchange Traded Fund investors only had one legitimate option, the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), if they wanted to invest in the marijuana industry. But in April the AdvisoreShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO) began trading. Then in July, the industry saw a marijuana boom when three new ETFs focused on the controversial industry began trading. On July 9th The Cannabis ETF (THCX) began trading, then the 23rd saw the Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF (CNBS) begin trading and finally on the 25th the Cambria Cannabis ETF (TOKE) opened for business.

Before we get into the differences of each ETF, I wanted to let everyone know that for the most part, all five of these ETFs are rather easy to buy. In the past when I have written about the marijuana ETFs, I often mentioned the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMMJ) which is actually traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Thus for U.S. investors, it can be difficult to purchase this fund unless you have an account which allows trading on foreign exchanges and in my experience, most retail investors don’t have those types of accounts.

I know these five are all easy to buy because I actually bought all five of them. I have two different brokerage accounts, one with Merrill Lynch and one with TD Ameritrade. The TD account allowed me to purchase all five ETFs with absolutely no issues and the Merrill Lynch account allowed me to buy MJ no problem. However, the Merrill Lynch account required that I call in and have a Merrill Lynch representative assist with the purchase of YOLO, THCX, CNBS, and TOKE, but not because they were marijuana ETFs but because they were thinly traded or had small asset bases.

So, let’s take a look at the five US listed marijuana ETFs and see what makes them different. Continue reading "5 Marijuana ETFs You Can Invest In Today"

The Second Marijuana ETF Is Now Open For Business

The AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO), the second pure play Marijuana Exchange Traded Fund began trading on Thursday, April 18th, (it would have been fun if the market had been open on April 20th). The fund is a direct competitor to the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), the only other US traded marijuana ETF.

(It should be noted that the AdvisorShares Vice ETF (ACT) also is heavily invested in marijuana and cannabis stocks, but it also has a large percentage of its portfolio in tobacco and alcohol-related business, which have no connection to the marijuana industry).

The two funds will be direct competitors, but not because they are investing in the same companies due to the differences in each fund’s principal investing strategy based on their ‘Fund Prospectus,’ but solely because they are the only two ETF’s primarily focusing on cannabis-related businesses.

YOLO’s fund prospectus states the following; Continue reading "The Second Marijuana ETF Is Now Open For Business"

3 Reasons Why You Should Still Avoid MJ, The Marijuana ETF

2018 was a tough year for long-term buy and hold marijuana investors. As a whole, the industry went on quite a wild roller-coaster ride. Marijuana stocks popped in December 2017 as anticipation for the ‘legalization’ of the drug occurred in the state of California on January 1st, 2018. We saw stock prices and the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ) jump as investors anticipated a ‘boom’ for the industry.

But, within a month or so of the legalization date, most of the marijuana-related stocks have fallen in price and MJ was trading below its December 2017 price. A few months went by, and most of the industries stocks just meandered along. Then the next big ‘legalization’ date grew near, October 17th, 2018, the day marijuana became legal in Canada.

The price of most of the well known and many of the lesser-known marijuana stocks, and MJ of course, once again began to ski-rocket. MJ, for example, went from $24 per share in August 2018, to as high as $45 per share, with its peak occurring just days before October 17.

Each time a new State or large country legalizes the drug, the companies in the industry experience an unfound increase in their valuation as investors buy shares at an insanely high rate. This type irrational buying leading up to a hyped up, essentially arbitrary date has put a lot of investors in a really bad place in 2018. MJ for one is down more than 24% in 2018, while other individual marijuana companies have seen their stock prices fall even further. Continue reading "3 Reasons Why You Should Still Avoid MJ, The Marijuana ETF"