The munKNEE Pure-Play Pot Stock Index went up 20% during the first week of January, up another 14% during the second week and was flat this past week for a cumulative increase of 38% since the beginning of 2021. This article identifies the winners and losers year-to-date.

(For more information on the reason(s) behind the changes outlined below you are urged to click on the stock symbols provided by TalkMarkets, where additional articles are listed. All currency amounts are in U.S. dollars. Go here to convert to another currency.)

Index Performance

The criteria for being included in the munKNEE Pure-Play Pot Stock Index is that the stock is consistently trading for a minimum of US$1/share and generates 100% of its revenue directly from the sale of cannabis products.

The major surge in the price of marijuana stocks is due to the hope that the Democrats' winning the two Senate seats in Georgia giving them a majority in the Senate will result in the passage of more favorable Federal marijuana legalization in the U.S..

The Canadian Licensed Producer (LP) Category went up 53% during the first 3 weeks of 2021 with 9 of the 10 stocks within the category advancing, in descending order, as follows:

1. Tilray* (TLRY): +118% to $18.02/share
2. Aphria* (APHA): +86.7% to $12.92/share
3. Hexo** (HEXO): +82% to $6.69/share
4. Cronos (CRON): +54% to $10.65/share
5. Valens (VLNCF): +38% to $1.79/share
6. Canopy (CGC) +37% to $33.80/share
7. Organigram (OGI) +29% to $1.72/share
8. Aurora (ACB): +28% to $10.65/share
9. Neptune (NEPT): +26% to $1.97/share

* Aphria and Tilray announced plans to merge, creating what will be the largest global cannabis company by revenue; **HEXO and beverage giant Molson Coors announced that their joint venture, Truss CBD USA, is preparing to launch a new beverage. Rubicon (ROMJF) declined 5% to $2.68/share.

The U.S. Multi-State Operator (MSOs) Category went up 31% during the first 3 weeks of 2021 with 17 of the 20 constituents advancing and 3 declining marginally (<3%), as follows in descending order:

1. Acreage*** (ACRDF + ACRHF): +97% to an average of $10.22
2. Vireo Health (VREOF): +73% to $2.56/share
3. Charlotte's Web (CWBHF): +43% to $4.71/share
4. Harvest Health (HRVSF): +57% to $3.40/share
5. Medicine Man (SHWZ): +49% to $2.26/share
6. Cresco (CRLBF): +41% to $14.19/share
7. Harborside (HBORF) +39% to $2.18/share
8. TerrAscend (TRSSF): +36% to $13.68/share
9. Trulieve (TCNNF): +36% to $43.00/share
10. cbdMD (YCBD): +26% to $3.73/share
11. Curaleaf (CURLF): +26% to $15.07/share
12. Green Thumb (GTBIF): +25% to $30.60/share
13. Ayr (AYRWF) +22% to $29.04/share
14. Jushi (JUSHF): +17% to $6.85/share
15. Columbia (CCHWF): +14% to $6.89/share
16. Indus (INDXF): +8% to $1.23/share

Planet 13 (PLNHF) declined 0.36% to $5.57/share, IM Cannabis (IMCNF) declined 2.0% to $1.95/share and C21 (CXXIF) declined 2.8% to $1.37/share

***Canopy Growth's original deal was to buy 100% of Acreage Holdings when the U.S. federally legalized cannabis. That deal was recently amended and has resulted in the creation of two new share classes which began trading on the OTCQX on October 7, 2020, namely, Class D “floating” shares (ACRDF) and Class E “fixed” shares (ACRHF) In the new deal, Canopy will buy only 70% of Acreage at the fixed share price with the remaining 30% floating with the market enabling Canopy and/or its shareholders to participate in any upside in the stock.

Retail investors prefer the "fixed" share class because they know that Canopy will buy these shares while the "floating" shares are only an option to buy and if Canopy decided not to buy the "floating" shares they would become much less valuable. Analysts, however, have been using the "floating" shares for their basis of valuation - not the "fixed" shares. Given this confusion, the "fixed" and "floating" shares prices are added together in the Index to better highlight and record the price trend of Acreage within the pure-play pot stock market sector.

Further details regarding the equal-weighted munKNEE Pure-Play Pot Stock Index are as follows:

• Only 30 stocks qualify for inclusion in the Index out of a total of over 225 (pure-play and ancillary) trading on North American exchanges.
• The average market capitalization of the 30 constituents is US$1.5B, as follows:
  • 10 have market caps ranging between $1.0B and $10.0B;
  • 5 have market caps between $500M and $999M;
  • 12 have market caps between $100M and $499M and
  • 3 have market caps of less than $100M.