Only 23 of the 225 cannabis and ancillary companies trading on the various North American stock exchanges meet the criteria* for inclusion in the munKNEE  Pure-Play "Seed-to-Sale" Pot Stocks Index. The Index consists of two sub-categories: the Canadian Pure-Play Licensed Producers (LPs) Pot Stock Index and the American Pure-Play Multi-State Operators (MSOs) Pot Stock Index. Which performed the best last week and which has performed the best year-to-date: LPs or MSOs? This article has the answers.

*The criteria for inclusion in the munKNEE marijuana indices are vertically integrated (seed-to-sale) companies that derive 100% of their revenue from the sector, have a market capitalization in excess of US$300K, and trade for at least US$1/share. Only 6 Canadian LP stocks and 17 American MSO stocks meet those criteria.

Citing a report from the Canadian Medical Association Journal this week, CNN warned that "whether you smoke it, vape it, or eat it as an edible, cannabis may be significantly increasing your risk of a heart attack" and that may have investors worried about investing in cannabis right now and account for the MAJOR decline cannabis stocks had across the board this week, as follows:  

The munKNEE Canadian Pure-Play Licensed Producers Pot Stock Index

• was -10.1% last week and
• is now -16.3% YTD.
  • Its constituents are: Canopy (CGC), Tilray (TLRY), Cronos (CRON), Aurora (ACB),  Hexo (HEXO) and Organigram (OGI).
  • ALL of the 6 constituent stocks in the sub-category declined in price by 5% or more, namely, in descending order:
    1. Canopy: DOWN -11.0% last week and is now DOWN -38.7%YTD
    2. Aurora: DOWN -10.3% and is now DOWN -20.2% YTD
    3. Hexo: DOWN -9.6% and is now DOWN -41.3% YTD
    4. Tilray: DOWN -8.7% but is now UP +50.2% YTD
    5. Organigram: DOWN -7.2% but is UP +85.0% YTD
    6. Cronos: DOWN -5.7% and is now DOWN -11.7% YTD  

The munKNEE American Pure-Play Multi-State Operators Pot Stock Index

• was -9.0 last week and
• is now -5.3% YTD.
  • Its constituents are: Curaleaf (CURLF), Green Thumb (GTBIF), Trulieve (TRSSF), Verano (VRNOF), Cresco (CRLBF),  TerrAscend(TRSSF), Columbia (CCHWF), Harvest Health  (HRVSF), Ascend  Wellness (AAWH),  Planet 13 (PLNHF),   Ayr (AYRWF), Jushi  (JUSHF), 4 Front (FFNTF), Charlotte's Web (CWBHF), Gage (GAGE), Acreage (ACRDF & ACRHF) and Goodness Growth (GDNSF).
    • ALL of the 17 constituent stocks in the sub-category declined in price of which 11 did so by more than 5% as follows, in descending order:
      1. Cresco: DOWN -15.3% last week and is now DOWN -16.8% YTD
      2. Green Thumb: DOWN -13.7% but is UP +3.5% YTD
      3. Columbia Care: DOWN -13.3% and is now DOWN -36.7% YTD
      4. Planet 13: DOWN -12.3% and is now DOWN -31.9% YTD
      5. Ayr Wellness: DOWN -12.0% and is now DOWN -9.9% YTD
      6. Goodness Growth: DOWN -10.7% and is now DOWN -4.1% YTD
      7. Curaleaf: DOWN -9.5% and is now DOWN -7.6% YTD
      8. Harvest Health: DOWN -9.1% but is UP +29.2% YTD
      9. Trulieve: DOWN -8.7% and is now DOWN -20.3% YTD
      10. Charlotte's Web: DOWN -8.4% and is now DOWN -33.6% YTD
      11. Ascend Wellness: DOWN -5.5% and unchanged in price since it began trading on May 4th.

Summary:

In total, the Pure-Play "Seed-to-Sale" Pot Stocks Index declined -9.2%  last week and is now -8.3% YTD while

• the American Pure-Play Multi-State Operators Pot Stock Index
  • out-performed the Canadian Pure-Play Licensed Producers Pot Stock Index sub-index last week, at -9.0% versus -10.1% and is currently
  • out-performing the LP sub-index YTD, DOWN only -5.3% versus -16.3% for the LP sub-index.

The above non-tradable indices replicate the performance of a portfolio investing an equal amount of money in each company in the cannabis categories, with daily rebalancing to maintain equal weight.