Cannabis shares rally as Canopy seeks to accelerate U.S. market entry

Reuters

Published Oct 25, 2022 04:21PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of marijuana producers jumped on Tuesday, led by a rally in Canada's Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC) Corp, after it said it will create a holding company to fast track its entry into the United States.

U.S.-listed shares of Canopy ended up 27.1% at $2.91, and were among the biggest daily percentage gainers on Nasdaq. The stock also registered its biggest one-day percentage gain since Aug. 15, 2018.

Shares of Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) Brands were up 13.3%, U.S.-listed shares of Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ:ACB) were up 19.2% and SNDL Inc was up 9.4%.

Canopy on Tuesday outlined a holding company structure to set up Canopy USA LLC. The new entity will take over Acreage Holdings (OTC:ACRGF) Inc in return for shares of Canopy Growth.

Gaining exposure to the U.S. market would be a plus for Canopy, but since public marijuana companies' stocks are low-priced, "any move is amplified because markets expect little from these names," Jessica Rabe, co-founder of DataTrek Research, said in an e-mail.

Federal legalization of marijuana in the United States could still be "a long way off, especially if Republicans take back Congress in the upcoming mid-term elections," she said, and cannabis companies need to navigate many U.S. state laws and regulations.

Canopy Growth's U.S.-listed shares are down about 67% for the year.

Cannabis stocks jumped earlier this month after U.S. President Joe Biden took steps to overhaul U.S. marijuana policy.