Why Marijuana Stocks Keep Going Down - Motley FoolStory by Rich Smith, Motley Fool
Dec 7, 2022 at 1:32PM Excerpt: Don't lose hope -- bleak as this situation looks, there's still a chance that the SAFE Banking Act will end up getting passed.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer insists that SAFE Banking retains bipartisan support and he still wants to "get it done" -- just not necessarily as part of an entirely unrelated NDAA. As North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer, a co-sponsor of SAFE Banking, explains, attaching a marijuana banking bill to a defense spending bill "dilutes the proper role" of the former, suggesting the idea of merging the two bills wasn't all that great an idea to begin with.
Right now, it looks like Congress' priority will be to pass the NDAA before the end of this year, and proceed to marijuana reform next year instead. If this is the way things play out, it will surely be a disappointment for marijuana investors -- who will have to wait yet another year to find out if making it easier for marijuana companies to access banking services will result in more profits for marijuana companies.
Failing that, I fear the bear thesis for marijuana stocks must remain ascendant. According to analysts polled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, if marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and banks remain unable to provide banking services to marijuana companies, it will be 2024 or even 2025 before SNDL has a chance of turning profitable, 2025 or 2026 for Tilray, and Aurora Cannabis won't earn its first profit before 2027.