Cannabis Short Sellers Hike Their Bets

Companies and Brands

Published: September 12, 2019 9:40 am

Last Updated: January 6, 2020 2:34 am

Cannabis stocks had a huge showing on Wall Street last year. In fact, most of the news flow surrounding these stocks had investors pouring money into them. Some of the stocks even doubled or tripled in value.

Although a fair number of these companies are based outside the United States, many of them trade on U.S. indexes. Marijuana is still illegal within U.S. borders on a federal level, but with Canada legalizing weed back in October of 2018, many believe that the United States will follow in the near future.

Many investors are focused on getting the jump on the cannabis industry, but they aren’t alone. And with this increased speculation, short sellers have plenty of room to play with whether some prices might be overly inflated.

The August 30 short interest data have been compared with the previous figures, and short interest in most of these selected marijuana stocks increased.

Short interest in Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) increased to 42.13 million shares from the previous 33.88 million. The stock was trading at $27.02 Thursday morning, within a 52-week range of $22.76 to $59.25.

Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) short interest jumped to 8.24 million shares from the previous 6.25 million. Shares traded at $30.60, in a 52-week range of $25.15 to $300.00.

The number of Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) shares short increased to 41.00 million from 38.15 million in the previous period. Its shares were trading at $11.46, in a 52-week range of $6.50 to $25.10.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) saw its short interest increase to 131.56 million shares from 116.51 million in the prior period. The stock was trading at $5.81. The 52-week range is $4.58 to $12.52.

Hexo Corp.’s (NYSE: HEXO) short interest rose to 28.65 million shares from the previous 26.75 million. The stock was trading at $4.24. The 52-week range is $3.70 to $8.40.

Short interest in Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) decreased to 26.83 million from the previous 29.28 million. The stock was trading at $6.76, and its 52-week range is $3.75 to $16.66.