Buzz on the Bullboards: Aurora Down & New Plays Up

If you glanced at any market headlines regarding the Wuhan coronavirus over the last week, you’ll have read about a retreating concern and investors starting to lighten up. If you looked at news outlets, however, you’d learn that the Covid-19 virus is still growing in scale.

So who’s right about the state of the global economy? On a numbers basis, the former holds true, as stock markets started to recover some lost ground. On a long-term basis, the full effects can only be estimated for now.

But amidst the confusion, investors on Stockhouse had plenty of other concerns. One was a massive shock to the cannabis market. Another was the constant search for exciting small-cap opportunities. A good metric for investor sentiment is traffic on the Stockhouse Bullboards, so let’s dive in and see what the story was last week.



Anybody with interest in the cannabis market knew that the most-viewed stock last week would be Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX:ACB, Forum). While other major LP’s had publicly dealt with struggles and reduced earnings in the preceding months, Aurora stubbornly hung on until the last minute. But last week, the other shoe dropped.



After markets closed on Feb. 6, Aurora announced bombshells: a $1 billion write down and 500 staff laid off in the hunt to reduce expenses, and the company’s long-time CEO Terry Booth stepping down. The release outlined that the reduction in capital expenses and profitability were still multiple quarters away. Analysts didn’t take kindly to the news, and ACB shares dropped from $2.83 on Feb. 4 to $2.05 on Feb. 11, before sliding below $2.00 a day later.

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Today, the Company released it’s Q2 earnings and the results painted a clearer picture of Aurora's dire situation. But it’s hard to overstate how many cannabis investors were drawn to the game by Aurora in the first place, and how much vested interest there is in the company. On the ACB Bullboard, users looked for any silver lining in recent events. For Stockhouse Member liljohnnyjoke, the silver lining was that poor earnings were expected, and there were a lot of moves the company could make to rebound.


While the cannabis sector looks to recover, small-cap investors have found plenty to get excited about over on the healthcare Bullboards. A returning and rising company last week was StageZero Life Sciences Ltd. (TSX:SZLS, Forum), which was last profiled back in July. After starting off the new year headed to a low of $0.035, SZLS started to climb higher and closed on Feb. 11 at $0.065.



The rise began on the back of StageZero’s Jan. 30 announcement that it would participate in a new US vendor database by leading provider Mercer Consultants. After that, SZLS shares went on a tear, spiking in trade volume alongside price.

Naturally, many on the SZLS Bullboard were ecstatic about the rise, but many more started to pin down a reason. After all, it’s one thing for shares to rise on their own strength, but another completely to find out that prices are being temporarily inflated instead. No concrete was answer was found, so Stockhouse Member davewho gave a rundown of potential causes and reminder that the company was still down from earlier in the year.


Another rising company could be found on the energy Bullboards, quickly becoming one of the most popular sectors on Stockhouse in the new year. Joining some of the more established names on the most-viewed chart was Sonoro Energy Ltd. (TSX-V:SNV, Forum), last seen back in October. A glance at the company’s price chart below show that, alongside some regular daily volatility at low prices, the trend has been steadily increasing.



Why has SNV seen an uptick in views recently? The oil and gas company is focused on prospects in South East Asia and has been steadily attracting investors, and recent action seems to be warrant related. The steadily increasing price tag led to a Feb. 6 announcement of accelerated expiry of warrants from March 2019, when shares of SNV were at a quarter of what they are today.

For Stockhouse investors in Sonoro, seeing the accelerated warrant expiries means a lot of things. The easy take-away is that the stock price has increased, but more important are the details of the expiry. Was the company forced to accelerate, or was this pre-emptive, and were investors dumping shares or staying onboard? As Stockhouse Member copperplay pointed out, the fine print made for increased optimism.
If metals & mining has been the most-visibly strong sector on Stockhouse in 2020, energy has been the sleeping giant lurking in the shadows. The new year has brought significantly renewed interest in oil, gas, and renewables plays to small-cap investors, and for good reason. In turn, we’ve been asking users on our homepage where they think energy stocks are heading.



The responses tell an interesting tale so far, but the poll is far from closed. There’s still plenty of time to add your voice and let us know whether the future looks bright or bleak for energy, and which stocks will have it the best (or worst). Head to the Stockhouse homepage or click the image below to cast your vote.


(Click image to go to the poll)

Next week is a long-weekend for American markets, which should give us a bit of a breather in terms of massive market shakeups. However, it also gives us an extra day to reflect, think, and generate new discussions on hot investment sectors on the Stockhouse Bullboards. For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards: click here.

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