Buds & Duds: Auxly, Namaste lead the way as cannabis stocks recover ground

Cannabis stocks gained back some ground Thursday after a disappointing start to the week.

The North American Marijuana Index, which tracks the top cannabis stocks in the US and Canada, picked up 0.9% to hit 211.6 points. Elsewhere, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF gained 0.4% to C$16.54 and the OTCQX Cannabis Index rose 1% to 686.4 points.

Buds

Auxly Cannabis Group Inc (CVE:XLY) (OTCMKTS:CBWTF) made the biggest gains of the day after announcing a $123 million investment from Imperial Brands PLC, a tobacco and consumer goods company. The deal also grants Auxly access to Imperial’s vaping technology and its vapor innovation business, Nerudia.

The new cash infusion sent Auxly shares 14% higher to C$0.84 and 12% to US$0.63 on OTC Markets.

READ: Namaste Technologies reaches settlement agreement on class action suit

Namaste Technologies Inc (CVE:N) (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) rose Thursday as investors took comfort in the settlement of a class action lawsuit. The company will pay out less than $500,000 related to a pair of class actions regarding past allegations of false or misleading statements, but said the payments did not constitute an admission of liability.

Traders have already moved on, bumping the stock up 8% to C$0.54 in Toronto and 2.4% to US$0.40 on OTC Markets.

Duds

Despite the aggregate gains, not every cannabis company could break out of the red on Thursday.

Among the laggards, Generation Alpha Inc (OTCMKTS:GNAL) lost more than 18% to US$0.07, Isodiol International Inc (OTCMKTS:ISOLF) dipped 8.8% to US$0.37 and Canntab Therapeutics Limited (OTCMKTS) fell 6.7% to US$0.50.

Contact Andrew Kessel at [email protected]

Follow him on Twitter @andrew_kessel

Story by ProactiveInvestors