Pot Stocks & ETFs: This Week's Top News In The Cannabis Industry

This week was action-packed for the cannabis industry, despite the fact that U.S. stock markets were closed Monday.

The United States Marijuana Index, which tracks some of the largest marijuana stocks in the U.S. experienced substantial volatility, spiked Tuesday and declined sharply Thursday and Friday to close the week down 2 percent at $97.80.

Meanwhile, the North American Marijuana Index gained 5.7 percent, largely driven by the performance of Canadian stocks.

The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF HMMJ gained 13.67 percent over the week, as it mimics the aforementioned North American index, and the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJX remained almost flat, despite some volatility, up 0.08 over the last five days.

Here are some of the top marijuana stocks in U.S. exchanges and how they performed this week:

• Aurora Cannabis Inc ACBFF rose 1.51 percent
• GW Pharmaceuticals PLC- ADR GWPH lost 0.79 percent
• Cronos Group Inc PRMCF slipped 4.14 percent
• Canopy Growth Corp TWMJF spiked 9.28 percent on a couple of relevant deals
• Cannabis Sativa Inc CBDS gained 4.9 percent
• THC Biomed Intl Ltd THCBF plummeted Monday and couldn't recuperate despite Tuesday’s gains, closing the week down 23.59 percent
• Aphria IncAPHQF also spiked on Tuesday, ending the week up 14.61 percent
• Scotts Miracle-Gro Co SMG dropped 1.27 percent on a consistent weekly decline
• MedReleaf Corp MEDFF added 2.19 percent to its value
• CannTrust Holdings Inc CNTTF rose 9.45 percent, mostly on the back of Tuesday's gains

Source: United States Marijuana Index

Related Link: Wonder Women Of Weed: Yvonne DeLaRosa Green, The Latina Revolutionizing Conscious Commerce With Cannabis

Below are some highlights from this week.

The state of Colorado reported cannabis tax collections of $247.36 million, up from $193.6 million in 2016. Based on these figures, financial analysis and research firm GreenWave Advisors estimated sales hit $1.494 billion, exceeding its $1.458-billion forecast, and considerably ahead of 2016's $1.3 billion, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Canopy Growth and Organigram Holdings Inc OGRMF signed a deal with the government of Canada’s Prince Edward Island. The companies will provide the recreational cannabis sold in the province.

Canopy Growth also announced a $175 million bought deal led by BMO Capital Markets and GMP Securities. This deal was important because not only was Canopy Growth “able to get the C$200mm deal done, the largest bought deal equity raise in Canada to date, but BMO was the joint bookrunner on the deal, [marking] the first time a 'Big 5' bank in Canada has underwritten a cannabis offering,” 420 Investor Alan Brochstein told Benzinga.

The Green Organic Dutchman raised $112 million, with Aurora Cannabis providing 49.1 percent of the funds. As highlighted by the Green Market Report, The Green Organic Dutchman is expected to debut in the public markets next March. Meanwhile, competing Aphria bought Broken Coast Cannabis for C$230 million ($184 million).

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc IIPR also made headlines announcing the sale of 2.8 million shares at $26.00 each. The stock closed the week at $28.17, even though the offering closes next week. “This REIT got off to a slow start in 2017 but has really improved its position,” Brochstein noted.

iAnthus Capital Holdings IncITHUF announced the acquisition of GrowHealthy Holdings and some related subsidiaries for $49 million in cash and stock, entering the Florida medical marijuana market.

Image credit: Javier Hasse