Sometimes the news behind a company is too small to put in a story all to itself. And sometimes the news can’t be verified. Sometimes the news isn’t news at all, it’s whispers and buzz and unsubstantiated weirdness.
So for all those instances, and with tax loss season coming on strong, we bring you rumour and innuendo: weed edition.
Modern Mobility Aids (
OTO:MDRM,
Stock Forum): This is one of those weed converted companies that nobody talks about because they haven’t been swinging from chandeliers promising riches. I get a fair amount of back channel chatter about them, increasing of late, that they have some sort of product development coming that will be big.
They recently
hired a Chief Medical Director to ‘secure senior human resource professionals’ and ‘identify stand alone and synergistic business opportunities” and quickly thereafter an
8-person medical advisory team was announced.
I don’t know anything about their plans, but I know these moves are legitimacy moves, especially when combined with the mid-year move to bring the company fully compliant with filing obligations.
The stock hasn’t moved in a while and the promo end has been slow. If your spidey senses aren’t tingling, mine are.
Abattis Bioceuticals(
CSE:C.ATT,
Stock Forum): For a company that has so many pieces to explain, the good folks at vertical integrator Abattis have sure been slow explaining them. One of my top 5 weed picks early in the green rush, the stock got slammed when Affinor honcho Nick Brusatore fled the building and dumped into the bid, and it has never recovered since. Recent moves to make wins in the legal space (involving, no surprise, Brusatore again) have left investors uneasy, but the company has made a recent renewed IR push to see if it can’t correct the tilt.
Stock is nearing a 52-week low, volume has dried up, and if there aren’t a couple of Affinor fan shorters out there banging the stock around a little, I’d be very surprised. Market wants revs. It’s in Abattis’ hands now to feed the beast or perish.
Affinor Growers (
CSE:C.AFI,
Stock Forum): Another of my former top 5. News this week was that AFI
dumped the IR team they brought on two months ago to
bring on another. Snuck into the IR disengagement PR was news the company isn’t pursuing an LOI with Herbal Clone Bank, not the first LOI they’ve dumped in recent months.
Stock is hurtin’ for certain, down to $0.17 from the mid $0.40’s barely a month back. The people want their strawberries, Nicholas.
CRAiLAR Technologies (
TSX:V.CL,
Stock Forum): For a company that has been playing the raise $3.2m per quarter, lose $3.2m per quarter game for so long, it’s surprising that the
most recent financials (which saw ‘only’ a net loss of $1.5m) brought about
the resignation of the CEO.
They’re playing the whole ‘he’s going to consult with us for a year’ game as the Chairman of the Board takes over as interim CEO, with lots of ‘appreciative,’ ‘selfless hard work,’ and ‘smooth transition’ phrases being tossed around.
I’ve been hard on the flax fiber tech play this year, mostly because of a distinct lack of progress and a bank account chewing set-up that seemed to always spend everything available every quarter. But hey, sales rose 71% over the previous quarter, despite equipment breakdowns and accounting issues. On present cash in hand, the company has a few quarters before it might need to go back for financing. Which is, and I’ve never said this about CRAiLAR before… good?
Chlormet Technologies (
CSE:C.PUF,
Stock Forum): This was not a great quarter for Chlormet. But I’m told ‘the wheels are turning’. News coming. Stock price moving. Think
Washington State. Up 21.4% today.
Supreme Pharmaceuticals (
CSE:C.SL,
Stock Forum): “And now, we wait.” That’s the most recent word out of the Supreme camp. No more construction. No more upgrades. The work is done, now it’s in Health Canada’s hands.
Stockhouse client.
Wildflower Marijuana (
CSE:C.SUN,
Stock Forum): You may have seen
my story on them yesterday after market close. Here’s the bottom line: It’s going to take time to get their MMPR(s), but they’re now sitting on three solid applications, and an emerging tech play. Assume Nanoose Bay doesn’t go ahead: That leaves the company exactly where it was before Nanoose Bay became sticky (two big projects), plus they’re going to sue the RDN for damages – and win. They’ll be a month behind on their timeline from where they were, but they’ll also be sitting on a deal that is city-backed, rent-free til they get a license(!), and closer to a work force. Bullboarders have complained management has spent too much money on itself – not sure how many of those complaining would work for free for a company in which you can’t sell your shares for three years, but hey. Stockhouse customer: Take the info as you will.
Green and Hill Industries/Ross’ Gold (
OTO:GHIL,
Stock Forum): We’re almost at the point now where this play will be turning the lights off, I think. Somebody, somewhere, paid $3.83 for some of this back in April, making it a $300m market cap on the strength of Olympic snowboarder Ross Rebagliati’s claim he would make it the weed equivalent of Grey Goose and Advil. Down 40% today to $0.02, a 99.4% drop from its high, and whoever picked it up at $0.02 is going to see their money halved soon. Insiders keep inviting me out to talk about ‘the real story’, but I think the real story is writ large.
Maple Leaf Green World (
TSX:V.MGW,
Stock Forum): I've had a few people ask me about this stock of late:
This news release makes me very nervous. Clearly MLGW is being poked in the chest by the TSX, who wants to make it clear that if the company is going medical marijuana, it’ll need to fill in some paperwork. Translated: Change of business, get your license, clarify clarify clarify.
But also, the company says it is at an ‘early stage’ in its application, which shouldn’t be the case seeing as the company has been on this for some time. In addition, the leaseback deal it appears to have negotiated with a California buying collective (wherein MLGW builds a greenhouse and is paid back through revenues) requires the company to raise half a million dollars between now and mid-January which, while not impossible, is difficult over Christmas. Emails for information are channeled through an MLReforestation.com address, which highlights that the company is growing lettuce, planting trees, building greenhouses, developing MMPRs, dealing with renewable energy… if you think that’s a tight and focused business plan, I’m going to disagree.
If you want a leaseback play in your portfolio (and I don’t dislike that model, being as there’s an aching need for capital in the US weed space), Chlormet and
Vodis (
CSE:C.VP,
Stock Forum) may be better options – or the ‘currently at $0.01’
Papuan Precious Metals (
TSX:V.PAU,
Stock Forum) might be another interesting option.
Full disclosure: The guys behind Vodis also run the Bitcoin play Newnote Financial (CSE:C.NEU, Stock Forum). I own a bunch of that and have enjoyed doing so immensely.
Satori Resources (
TSX:V.BUD,
Stock Forum): The
RTO just announced is a forward step. But it has left some confusion as to what it all means. And, frankly, the new CEO has left a trail of eclectic social media posts over the last few months, which has added to the weirdness. We had a video camera lying around, so I figured I’d talk into it for a while and lay out how I see the deal.
Two things to note: I helped Satori with some advice on digging themselves out of their hole some months back, so I have some stock options. They’re under water, so no biggie, but clarity is nice. Second thing to note: Yes, that’s me in the background of my own video shot at 1:55… spoooooky!
Verde Science (
OTO:VRCI,
Stock Forum): Still in the ‘dump’ phase. Market cap is now $300k. Down from over a buck per share to three shares for every $0.01. Apparently they’re looking at ebola screening now. Daytrader nightmare fuel. Called it back in June. Gonna keep calling it.
Tweed (
TSX:V.TWD,
Stock Forum): Still don’t know why a visitor to the Tweed website has to look hard on the front page to find their products. Currently only three strains available: Cocoa Kush, Nordle and the unfortunately named UK Cheese. Stock has been wildly up and down (mostly up, credit where it’s due) of late, but the market wants revs and patient numbers. That’ll be the challenge for the next month.
Bedrocan (
TSX:V.BED,
Stock Forum): Just got their annual import license renewal, with an additional 240kg of product permitted going forward. Bigger news is their grow facility, 50k sq. ft, hoping for final inspection in December. So undervalued.
Oh yeah: Stockhouse client.
88 Capital Corp (
TSX:V.EEC,
Stock Forum): Jumped 122% today. No news. Tiny volume. Anyone got any info?
Geonovus (
CSE:C.GNM,
Stock Forum): Struggling to raise finance for what is, frankly, a great opportunity in Uruguay. Primed for someone to jump in for pennies and get a fat stake, and the hunt is on for a CEO to move it forward.
Highmark Marketing (
CSE:C.HMK,
Stock Forum): Confused over the recent announcement from Highmark that they were
cranking out a bunch of spin-outs, an announcement that saw the stock jump on high volume? Here’s the straight dope from the CEO, Mark Branson:
A shareholder of record on January 12th will:
- Maintain his or her position in Highmark Marketing, including the MMPR applications, and which will continue to focus on the branding and growing of high quality marijuana
- The shareholder will also receive a share (partial - 1 for every 4 held as a result of the split) in MJ Bioscience, which will focus on pushing forward the plant science behind propagation, strains ‘breeders rights”, and derivatives. MJ Bioscience also intends to pursue some high level studies into dosing and efficacy with large well known partners
- In addition to all this the shareholder will also receive a partial share (also a 1 for 4) in Highmark Technologies, a company that will be focused on developing online marketing strategies (info tech), and possibly acquiring complimentary or high-tech companies that can provide accesses to growth technology industries
Some detail on the MMPR and branding side: “The BCBud deal is a great opportunity for Highmark to participate in a low cost, high quality facility that will be branded as one of the most recognizable names in the marijuana space. The deal was well structured for the benefit of all parties and the financial risks posed by Health Canada have been mitigated to the best of our ability by milestone-based and equity-based compensation. We also feel that the intended team, location, and size of the facility lend the company long term advantages. This decision was a result of many discussions and in depth reviews of applications in all approval stages, and provincial jurisdictions across Canada, and as a matter of course we continue to evaluate new opportunities going forward.”
Matica Enterprises (
CSE:C.MMJ,
Stock Forum): Seriously, best stock ticker in the space. Over and above that, the company has got Jacob Securities now engaged with a view to a future raise, with the intention of delivering funds needed to complete the currently Ready-To-Build aproved grow facility. You may recall Jacob as, oh, maybe the biggest broker in the weed space. What’s up, Tweed founders.
Downside? Short players and/or large stakeholders looking to move out after a lengthy trade halt have been churning the stock, so even though it has been on an upward trajectory and trading at high volume, the price has stayed within reasonable bounds.
Full disclosure: My consulting partner has been working with the company on project due diligence and our company has a position as a result.
Organigram (
TSX:V.OGI,
Stock Forum): A whole bunch of (basically all) LPs were given a warning from Health Canada about advertising their product in contravention of the rules. Not sure if this is what HC was noting or not, from Twitter…
Stockhouse client, consulting client, own some shares, disclosure disclosure.
Got a rumour for the next addition? Send it to me via Twitter, comments section below, or private message.
--Chris Parry
https://www.twitter.com/chrisparry