Short Sellers Get Even Higher on Cannabis Stocks

Companies and Brands

Published: December 11, 2019 9:15 am

Last Updated: March 13, 2020 6:12 pm

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 November 29 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 47.11 million shares from the previous 41.98 million. The stock was trading at $20.09 Wednesday morning, within a 52-week range of $13.81 to $52.74.

Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY) short interest fell to 7.80 million shares from the previous 8.99 million. Shares traded at $18.55, in a 52-week range of $18.00 to $106.00.

The number of Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ: CRON) shares short increased to 57.55 million from 52.64 million in the previous period. Its shares were trading at $6.83, in a 52-week range of $6.04 to $25.10.

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB) saw its short interest grow to 172.90 million shares from 169.31 million in the prior period. The stock was trading at $2.52. The 52-week range is $2.14 to $10.32.

Hexo Corp.’s (NYSE: HEXO) short interest rose to 36.03 million shares from the previous 32.93 million. The stock was trading at $2.19. The 52-week range is $1.56 to $8.40.

Short interest in Aphria Inc. (NYSE: APHA) decreased to 35.54 million from the previous 35.83 million. The stock was trading at $4.95, and its 52-week range is $3.76 to $10.95.