We constantly read the hype about the cannabis sector doing extremely well but the Pure-Play "Seed-to-Sale" Pot Stocks Index reveals that sizeable pure-play companies are DOWN -13.1% YTD, on average. Here are the details:

The munKNEE  Pure-Play "Seed-to-Sale" Pot Stocks Index consists of the 23 non-ancillary (i.e. pure-play) cannabis companies that trade for at least US$1/share, have a market cap of at least US$200M and trade on one or more of the Canadian and/or American stock exchanges. Six of the 23 index constituents that meet that criteria are Canadian Licensed Producers (LPs) and 17 are American Multi-State Operators (MSOs) and they represent 10% of the total universe of 220 cannabis and ancillary companies currently trading.

Only 6 of the 23 constituents are up YTD, namely:

• Organigram (OGI): +69.9% (from $1.33 to $2.25); Harvest Health (HRVSF): +49.1% (from $2.16 to $3.22); Tilray (TLRY): +27.0% ($8.26 to $11.02); 4Front Ventures (FFNTF): +13.2%; Goodness Growth (GDNSF): +11.5% and Green Thumb (GTBIF): +3.1%.

The remaining 17 constituents are down, YTD as follows, in ascending order:

• 3 constituents are DOWN -40% or more YTD, namely:
  • Hexo (HEXO): -52.7%; Canopy Growth (CGC): -46.3%; Charlotte's Web (CWBHF): -40.3%.
• 4 constituents are DOWN  -30% to -39.9% YTD, namely:
  • Columbia Care (CCHWF): -39.5%; Verano (VRNOF): -38.5%;  TerrAscend (TRSSF): -34.5%; Jushi (JUSHF): -33.3%.
• 1 constituent is DOWN -20% to -29.9% YTD, namely:
  • Cronos (CRON): -21.0%.
• 4 constituents are DOWN -10% to -19.9% YTD, namely:
  • Planet 13 (PLNHF): - 19.3%; Acreage (ACRDF/ACRHF): -19.1%; Cresco (CRLBF): -17.2%; Aurora (ACB): - 13.2%.
• 5 constituents are DOWN -1% to -9.9% YTD, namely:
  • Gage Growth (GAGE): -8.3%; Trulieve (TCNNF): -6.6%; Ascend Wellness (AAWH): -5.3%; Curaleaf (CURLF): -4.8%; Ayr Wellness (AYRWF): -2.9%.

Action Going Forward

The above account is a grim reminder of how poorly cannabis stocks have performed to date in 2021 (as of October 8th), in general, and especially after the February peaks. But one could look at these declines as, perhaps, an opportunity to buy one or more of those stocks by doing some in depth research as to which, in your opinion, hold considerable promise going forward. To that end, you are encouraged to click on the symbols of those stocks that are of interest and review their latest financial statements and commentary as found in the TalkMarkets data they have made available and check out the company web sites as provided.