XXII announced a partnership that will enable it to provide year-round growing capabilities
Welcome back to our weekly series, Schaeffer's Cannabis Stock News Update, where we recap what happened in the world of marijuana stocks and look ahead to how the cannabis industry continues to shape up in 2021.
Investor interest in the cannabis industry is growing at an explosive rate, and the leading players continue to break through legal barrier after legal barrier, especially in the United States. More than 40 U.S. states legalized recreational and/or medical marijuana by the end of 2020. Now, companies are starting to see the opportunity in cannabis cultivation, marketing, distribution, and technology.
Headset, the leading provider of data and analytics to the cannabis industry, released a quarterly update on its long-term forecasts for the U.S. and Canadian cannabis markets. In this report, the 2022 U.S. forecast is over $30 billion, mostly driven by multiple state's legalization of recreational marijuana. U.S. market growth is not anticipated to slow down in the near-term and Headset expects a higher year-over-year growth rate next year. Headset did not report much change in the original Canadian cannabis market forecast.
Here is a quick roundup of major (and action-worthy!) cannabis stock news this week:
Aurora Cannabis Inc (NASDAQ:ACB), one of the worldwide leaders in cannabis distribution based in Canada, announced the delivery of one of the largest ever single shipments of cannabis to Israel. The delivery, completed on July 15, was worth approximately $8 billion CAD. According to Aurora Cannabis' CEO, Miguel Martin, "We are excited about the evolution of the cannabis industry in Israel and commend the Ministry of Health and the Israeli Medical Cannabis Agency for ensuring thoughtful regulation of cannabis, in the best interest of Israeli cannabis patients. We look forward to continuing to provide high-quality cannabis to Israel, as part of our strategy to expand our medical cannabis portfolio in key international markets."
On July 15, High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ:HITI), a retail-focused cannabis company, along with Halo Collective Inc. confirmed the closing of Halo's purchase of KushBar retail cannabis assets from High Tide. Specifically, the sale of HITI's three KushBar retail cannabis locations to Halo's subsidiary, Halo KushBar, was completed for $5.7 million. HITI dropped approximately 7% on the news of the sale.
Proprietary enterprise resource planning (ERP) software technology, MJ Platform®, from Akerna (NASDAQ:KERN) released data that broke down Independence Day sales in the cannabis industry. Friday, July 2, was the second largest sales day for the cannabis industry this year, posting $89.6 million in retail sales. According to Akerna's Business Intelligence Architect, James Ahrendt, "the 4th of July weekend has historically been in the top 10 sales days of the year for cannabis, and this years' holiday weekend supported that trend. We correctly predicted that Friday, the start of the holiday weekend, would see the most traffic, which has been a trend for other holidays this year as well."
22nd Century Group Inc (NYSE:XXII), a plant-based biotech firm with a focus in hemp/cannabis research, announced a new strategic partnership agreement with Sawatch Agriculture and Folium Botanical on July 14. Through this new strategic partnership, XXII is able to provide year-round growing capabilities in conjunction with the pre-existing partnership between 22nd Century Group and Aurora Cannabis (ACB).
Organigram Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OGI) released its fiscal third-quarter financial report on July 13, highlighting notable increases of 51% in gross revenue and 39% in net revenue. Gross revenue marked a 31% year-over-year increase while net revenue marked a 13% year-over-year increase.
SweetWater Brewing Company, a subsidiary of Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY), announced plans to open a full-service brewery in Colorado on July 12 as part of SweetWater's expansion plans across the U.S. The opening of this new brewery expands the availability of SweetWater products, including 420 spirits, in Colorado. With this latest expansion, SweetWater's portfolio of specialty beers will now become available in 34 U.S. states and Washington, D.C.
On July 15, Neptune Wellness Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:NEPT) announced its financial and operating results for its fiscal fourth quarter, and the full fiscal 2021 year which ended on March 31, 2021. Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue clocked in at $6.8 million compared to this time last year, when the company produced $9.5 million in revenue. Fiscal fourth-quarter gross profit clocked in at a loss of $24.8 million compared to the $1.1 million loss posted in the comparable quarter last year.
KushCo Holdings, Inc. and Greenlane Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:GNLN) announced an all-stock merger agreement on July 15. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter by August 26, allowing both companies to cross-sell products and services to each respective customer base with anticipated overall growth between $15 to $20 million in cost saving synergies per year.