Jun 22, 2019

Weed stocks chill out

Felix Salmon, author of Capital
Expand chart
Source: FactSet. Chart: Harry Stevens/Axios

Cannabis stocks are notoriously volatile. On Aug. 1, 2018, Tilray — a Canadian company that calls itself "one of the largest and most sophisticated producers of premium medical cannabis in the world" — was worth $1.66 billion.

By the numbers: A mere 35 trading days later, on Sept. 20, it was worth $16.37 billion. Today, it's worth $3.3 billion.

Look past the day-to-day volatility in individual stocks, however, and a bigger picture appears: The marijuana sector as a whole, as valued on mostly Canadian stock exchanges, is not only enormous but pretty stable in size.

  • The 8 largest companies, collectively worth $39 billion today, have been worth somewhere between $36 billion and $44 billion pretty much all year.

The bottom line: This might well be a bubble. But if it is, we've moved past the get-rich-quick stage. Pot valuations aren't soaring any longer — but they're not declining, either.

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Correction: The chart at the top of this story previously misidentified one of the cannabis companies. Its name is Curaleaf, not Cura Cannabis.

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Axios
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Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

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Media tycoon Jimmy Lai at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong in June. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP via Getty Images

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been arrested for "collusion with foreign powers," said Mark Simon, an executive at the tycoon's media firm Next Digital Monday morning local time.

Why it matters: He was arrested under the new national security law that gives Beijing more powers over the former British colony. Lai is the most prominent person arrested under the law, which prompted the U.S. to sanction Chinese officials, including Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, over Beijing's efforts to strip the territory of its autonomy.

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People physically distancing at tables in New York City's Times Square in June. Photo: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

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Why it matters: It's the lowest single-day positive rate since the start of the pandemic. It's another sign that the state that was once a global coronavirus epicenter is curbing the spread of the virus. "Our daily numbers remain low and steady, despite increasing infection rates across the country, and even in our region," Cuomo said in a statement. "But we must not become complacent: Everyone should continue to wear their masks and socially distance."

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