The MSOs Are Pulling Back

You’re reading this week’s edition of the New Cannabis Ventures weekly newsletter, which we have been publishing since October 2015. The newsletter includes unique insight to help our readers stay ahead of the curve as well as links to the week’s most important news. We post this and all of the newsletters on our website here.

Friends,

This has been a tough week for the largest MSOs, all of which have declined by more than 2.5%:

There was no news, and stocks in general have had a tough week. One piece of news that did not take place may be weighing on these stocks: 4/20 passed without any word from the DEA on rescheduling. It has been almost 8 months now since the potential rescheduling news hit in late August.

There are still a few days left this month, but April has been challenging for cannabis stocks. The five largest public MSOs have all declined by 5.8% or more. The New Cannabis Ventures American Cannabis Operator Index, which includes 13 MSOs, has dropped 10.4%. The index is still up a lot year-to-date at +20.9%. More broadly, the NCV Global Cannabis Stock Index has pulled back 7.4% so far in April and is up 16.6% so far in 2024.

Rescheduling remains the largest potential driver of cannabis stocks. Again, if the DEA follows the recommendation of the Department of Health & Human Services to move cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3, then the 280E tax will end. This will boost operating cash flow and net income for the cannabis producers and should help the entire industry. Still, we don’t know when this could happen, and the DEA could move to Schedule 2, which would not end the tax.

AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF (NYSE Arca: MSOS), which has no official index, has rallied less than the American Cannabis Operator Index so far this year, gaining 20.1%. The ETF remains highly concentrated, with its holdings of the largest 5 MSOs at 82.7%. The shares outstanding have not changed this week so far. This is the first week since December 22nd when they haven’t increased. The ETF’s shares outstanding have increased by 33.6% so far this year and 78.2% since August 25th, reflecting investor optimism regarding rescheduling.

MSOS has rallied a lot since late August too, gaining 74.6% from its all-time closing low of $4.82 on 8/28:

It looks like a double-top in price has been set near $10.50, and the ETF appears to be rolling over. It ended 2023 at $7.01, which is 16.7% lower. If 280E remains, it will possibly post an all-time low, as the largest MSOs all have debt and a lack of cash flow to pay it off.  Investors should be aware of how much trading volume there is in this ETF and how concentrated its ownership is.

Earnings season begins in just a few days, and the largest MSOs are scheduled to report on May 8th and May 9th. We will publish previews before the month ends. We reported that Q4 financial reports were not exciting, and we don’t expect Q1 reports will be either. Unfortunately, it’s all about potential rescheduling and potential adult-use legalization in Florida for now.

New Cannabis Ventures publishes curated articles as well as exclusive news. Here is some of the most important content from this week:

Exclusives

Canadian Cannabis Sales Drop Again

Mergers & Acquisitions

Curaleaf Closes Canadian LP Acquisition for Initial $16 Million in Stock

To get real-time updates download our free mobile app for Android or Apple devices, like our Facebook page, or follow Alan on Twitter. Share and discover industry news with like-minded people on the largest cannabis investor and entrepreneur group on LinkedIn.

Use the suite of professionally managed NCV Cannabis Stock Indices to monitor the performance of publicly-traded cannabis companies within the day or over longer time-frames. In addition to the comprehensive Global Cannabis Stock Index, we offer the Canadian Cannabis LP Index, the American Cannabis Operator Index and the Ancillary Cannabis Index.

View the Public Cannabis Company Revenue & Income Tracker, which ranks the top revenue producing cannabis stocks.

Stay on top of some of the most important communications from public companies by viewing upcoming cannabis investor earnings conference calls.

Discover upcoming new listings with the curated Cannabis Stock IPOs and New Issues Tracker.

Sincerely,

Alan

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