Buds & Duds: Cannabis stocks make big gains for second straight day; Canopy Growth surges on Bank of America upgrade

Cannabis stocks continued making broad gains on Thursday across North American markets.

The North American Marijuana Index, which tracks the top cannabis stocks in the US and Canada, was up 6.2% at 127.5 points. Elsewhere, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF increased by 6.7% to C$9.98, while the OTCQX Cannabis gained 4.3% at 498.6 points.

Buds

A number of companies made headway in early Thursday trading.

Valens GroWorks Corp (CVE:VGW) (OTCMKTS:VGWCF) rose after analysts at Power Growth Investor assigned a Buy recommendation for the first time to the extraction company.

The investor publication said the British Columbia-based company was a “good bet,” telling investors, “the industry is still something of a Wild West, so investors must be choosy when looking into prospective winners,” said Power Growth Investor, which was formerly known as Stock Pickers Digest.

Shares of Valens traded 4% higher in Toronto at C$3.39 and 3.5% up over the counter at US$2.54.

Sundial Growers Inc (NASDAQ:SNDL) saw its shares rise 11.5% to hit US$3.10 after the Calgary-based cultivator was added to the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF, which trades on the NYSE Arca.

The MJ ETF tracks the Prime Alternative Harvest Index, designed to measure the performance of companies within the cannabis ecosystem benefitting from global medicinal and recreational cannabis legalization initiatives.

As for big caps, Canopy Growth Corporation (TSE:WEED) (NYSE:CGC) climbed 15.7% and counting in Toronto to hit $27.18 by midmorning and 15.6% in New York at US$20.39.

The increase is likely due to Bank of America’s move to upgrade the weed stock from Neutral to Buy on Wednesday, two months after downgrading its shares.

Sister company Canopy Rivers Inc (TSE:RIV) (OTCMKTS:CNPOF) also surged 20% in Toronto at C$1.50 and 16.8% over the counter at US$1.11 after it gave a positive update on its portfolio companies Headset, TerrAscend, James E Wagner Cultivation and YSS Corp.

Duds

iAnthus Capital Holdings Inc (CSE:IAN) (OTCMKTS:ITHUF) found itself in the red on Thursday after its third quarter revenue missed analyst estimates.

The producer reported a net loss of US$15.3 million on revenue of US$22.3 million compared to Wall Street estimates of a US$9.3 loss on US$19.2 million.

iAnthus shares were down 4.6% at C$1.85 in Canada and 3.5% over the counter at US$1.39.

Lift & Co Corp (CVE:LIFT) (OTCMKTS:LFCOF) also sank 12% in Canada at C$0.11 and 11.9% over the counter at US$0.09. The cannabis events company announced a new consumer profiling tool powered by Nielsen ratings that aims to help cannabis marketers better understand and target new consumers.

Contact Angela at [email protected]

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Story by ProactiveInvestors