00:00 Friends, cannabis investors, other cannabis investors, what's up?
00:08 Elliot Lane here with Cannabis Daily for Benzinga.
00:11 Hope everybody's having a phenomenal week.
00:13 Happy Wednesday, happy hump day to you.
00:16 We have a good bit of stuff to digest today, analysts' notes, as well as a few other headlines
00:23 to just make sure you are aware of.
00:25 As always, with all of your cannabis news, benzinga.com/cannabis throughout your day
00:30 or download the Benzinga app.
00:32 It's how I do it.
00:33 Scroll over to the cannabis news feed and then just keep scrolling.
00:36 It's never ending.
00:37 It's wonderful.
00:38 It's just cannabis news for as long as you want.
00:39 Share with your friends.
00:40 All right, y'all, let's dive in.
00:41 We are going to start with a bunch of analyst notes.
00:44 Super excited for Owen Bennett at Jeffreys, just not putting down his pen to talk about
00:52 all these public cannabis companies.
00:53 He releases four notes this morning and/or later afternoon yesterday on the cannabis
01:00 space.
01:01 Let's start.
01:02 Crono, C-R-O-N on the NASDAQ.
01:03 "Any future shareholder excitement will come via M&A."
01:08 Strong statement there.
01:09 "Current operations generating very little value and future prospects look challenged.
01:14 Two best case scenarios for the company are entering the US again or merging with another
01:20 company as the rumors were about, we'll say a month ago with Curaleaf.
01:25 That obviously has amounted to nothing.
01:28 But that being said, Cronos is a fine company.
01:32 It appears for Jeffreys that it has reached somewhat of a ceiling with its current operations.
01:38 So we will see if Cronos moves in an M&A direction at any time in the near future.
01:44 I do think we'll see more M&A uptick in the next six months.
01:48 But that being said, I would say for now, they're probably a hold for Owen Bennett.
01:54 ACB, that's Aurora on the NASDAQ, "Still needs more convincing on long-term value creation.
02:00 Owen Bennett sees little improvement in operational performance due to the focus of medical cannabis
02:04 in most markets.
02:05 They are very well placed for growth for medical cannabis, but the international medical marijuana
02:11 market has been slow to grow, even though we could see some meaningful acceleration
02:17 soon."
02:18 They're a hold for Owen.
02:20 Columbia Care, CCHWF, "Can fully focus on its own destiny again.
02:24 Post-Cresco Labs merger cancel.
02:28 He is encouraged with the industry's best geographical footprint, but some issues have
02:34 come up with scaling.
02:35 So they need to be solved, but he does consider Columbia Care a buy."
02:40 And I agree with him.
02:41 No financial advice in this podcast, but I've said it many times since the cancel of this
02:45 merger, I love Columbia Care.
02:47 I've always been a fan of their retail strategy, always been a fan of their footprint.
02:51 I thought Cresco Labs really got a great deal and a wonderful company to partner with there.
02:56 But now that they are back on their own, they are once again one of my favorites, and I'm
03:00 excited to see what they do moving forward, especially with Nick Vita at the helm.
03:04 Love that guy.
03:05 ABC, Canopy Growth on the NASDAQ holds firm with the value here being Canopy USA.
03:11 Any future growth in the stock is probably going to be determined by their US strategy.
03:16 And you can come see David Klein, their CEO, talk about that at Benzinga's next Cannabis
03:20 Capital Conference, bzcannabis.com for your tickets there.
03:24 Roth on Aurora Cannabis, they remain neutral, unsure of the company's ability to service
03:29 international markets from Canada.
03:32 Interested in the highs and lows, however, of the new businesses, such as growing orchids.
03:37 I will say I love orchids.
03:39 Orchids are wonderful.
03:40 They're very pretty.
03:41 Canaccord on Forefront, FFNTF on the OTC, a mostly flat quarter year over year, but
03:46 down sequentially.
03:48 Looking at Illinois as the growth driver while pricing pressures continue in California,
03:52 which is why they are ramping down exposure to the Western state there currently, at least
03:59 until the climate changes.
04:01 American presidential nominee Vivek Ramanswamy is on board with federally legalizing marijuana
04:07 as well as allowing veterans to use certain psychedelics for PTSD.
04:11 This is all per Marijuana Moment.
04:14 He has contradicted himself per Marijuana Moment in the past with statements against
04:19 decriminalizing drugs at a broad scale.
04:22 So we'll keep an eye on what these presidential nominees say about marijuana long term.
04:27 But we have pretty recent experience about slow movement from a winning presidential
04:33 candidate regarding marijuana.
04:35 A new study per Marijuana Moment found that states that legalize medical cannabis see
04:40 a significant and sizable reduction in health insurance premiums.
04:46 That is awesome for consumers.
04:48 Y'all, if you need any other reason to get on board with medical marijuana, at least,
04:54 you're going to spend less money.
04:56 It's wonderful.
04:57 Cookies expands to the East Coast with opening of first New Jersey adult use dispensary.
05:02 And last but not least, Cresco Labs reports their second quarter revenue up 2% sequentially
05:07 to 198 million gross profit of 88 million adjusted EBITDA of 40 million, which is up
05:14 38% sequentially.
05:16 And they claim the top market position in Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.
05:22 Strong, strong brand portfolio there.
05:24 Cresco Labs, they are a wonderful stock.
05:27 Keep an eye on them.
05:28 Also, I still believe the leading wholesaler in the industry, them or Cureleaf.
05:32 But with that being said, if I'm watching stocks today, I'm going to keep an eye on
05:34 Aurora.
05:35 A lot of analysts know what's coming out about them.
05:37 Obviously, Cresco Labs and Columbia Care are going to continue to slowly pull apart for
05:43 a little bit.
05:44 But I think Cresco Labs will probably affect both stocks a little bit today.
05:47 With that being said, thank you all so much for tuning in.
05:48 Really, really appreciate you.
05:50 As always, we will see you again tomorrow.
05:52 Peace.
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