When friends learn that Oliver Babin, a 21-year-old business student, calls the shots on an $8-million stock portfolio, they usually have one question for him.
"Everyone wants to know what I think of marijuana stocks," said the fourth-year University of New Brunswick student, who is part of a nine-person team that runs an investment fund as part of their studies. Like many investors, some of Mr. Babin's buddies are caught up in pot-stock fever. Several of them, including those who occasionally enjoy a toke or two, made their first forays into the equity market by jumping into stocks such as Emerald Health Therapeutics Inc. last November, when its shares traded around $1.50; just three months later, the B.C.-based bud producer hit $9.
At that price, Emerald Health had a stock market value of more than $1-billion; it was valued at $657-million on Friday after cannabis stocks sold off sharply this week. That is quite something for a business that brings in less money than a well-run convenience store. The company's financial statements for the first nine months of last year show a mere $658,000 in revenue and a $4.8-million loss. Of course, that's not terribly surprising in an industry that recently saw a hot takeover battle for a company, Newstrike Resources Ltd., that has yet to sell a single gram. At one point last month, Newstrike enjoyed a market capitalization of more than $1.1-billion (it's now $390-million).
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It has all the hallmarks of a mania, a bubble that is perhaps in the middle of bursting after marijuana company shares melted down this week. That's why, even on a cannabis-friendly university campus, Mr. Babin and his colleagues at UNB are just saying no to marijuana stocks. The student-run fund has never owned any pot plays and has no plans to do so. Mr. Babin said "the price on these cannabis companies makes no sense. It's market trading on momentum, not value."
Oliver Babin.JAMES WEST/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Fuelled by the prospect of federal legalization of recreational marijuana in July, Canadian cannabis stocks have had an extraordinary run. A sector that barely existed three years ago is now home to dozens of public companies with a combined market capitalization of almost $30-billion. Those numbers are partly a reflection of growing interest from individual investors and new exchange-traded funds that are pouring cash into cannabis, even as pension funds and many other institutional investors regard the sector as too speculative.
Small fortunes are being made. Investment bank Canaccord Genuity Group Inc., a major underwriter of marijuana stocks, runs an index of publicly traded cannabis producers. It was up 277 per cent in 2017 – versus a thin 6 per cent gain in the S&P/TSX benchmark.
And an industry is being created. Across Canada, abandoned factories and warehouses are being converted in grow-ops. Greenhouses once filled with flowers or tomatoes are now pot plantations.
Celebrities are getting in on the action. Rapper Snoop Dogg endorses products from Canopy Growth Corp., the country's largest producer, while members of rock band the Tragically Hip have turned a $21-million paper profit on their stake in Newstrike after crafting a deal to develop brands named after their hit songs.
But the hype no longer matches reality. The simple principle of supply and demand is going to knock the stuffing out of cannabis stocks – a process that may have begun this week, with cannabis stocks down 17 per cent. Legalizing marijuana marks a cultural shift in Canada, but it's still a commodity that is subject to the laws of economics.
"None of these companies invented marijuana. Canada is just changing the supply chain for the industry," Mr. Babin said. Demonstrating that he has paid attention in economics classes, the native of Rimouski, Que., said: "The cannabis market is in its early stages, with low barriers to entry and numerous competitors who haven't shown they have a sustainable competitive advantage."
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While companies such as Canopy Growth have been public since 2014, the market has been hitting new highs since last fall. As recently as last November, a study by Echelon Wealth Partners Inc. revealed that Canada's publicly listed cannabis companies were trading at a multiple of approximately nine times their forecast 2019 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). Then, as marijuana stock prices soared, the sector began to trade at more than 22 times its forecast 2019 EBITDA. The recent selloff – part of a broader stock market downturn that saw companies perceived as higher-risk swoon – has brought that multiple down. But only to 14 times.
Pot stock trading multiples
Canadian sector's valuation relative to consensus forecast 2019 earnings
4681012141618202224xFeb.2017Apr.JuneAug.Oct.Dec.Feb.201812.0
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: ECHELON WEALTH PARTNERS / NOTE: EARNINGS ARE BEFORE INTEREST TAXES, DEPRECIATION AND AMORTIZATION
DATA
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Date Valuation
2017-01-24 12.0
2017-01-30 11.6
2017-02-06 11.8
2017-02-13 10.9
2017-02-20 11.9
2017-02-27 11.6
2017-03-06 11.5
2017-03-13 10.3
2017-03-20 9.7
2017-03-27 10.3
2017-04-03 9.4
2017-04-10 10.7
2017-04-13 10.8
2017-04-24 9.9
2017-05-02 9.0
2017-05-08 8.6
2017-05-15 8.2
2017-05-19 8.6
2017-05-29 8.9
2017-06-05 6.9
2017-06-12 7.0
2017-06-19 6.6
2017-06-26 6.7
2017-06-30 6.6
2017-07-07 6.4
2017-07-14 7.0
2017-07-21 7.2
2017-07-28 7.6
2017-08-04 7.4
2017-08-11 7.3
2017-08-18 7.5
2017-08-25 7.0
2017-09-01 7.4
2017-09-08 7.3
2017-09-15 7.6
2017-09-22 7.9
2017-09-29 9.0
2017-10-06 9.7
2017-10-13 8.9
2017-10-20 8.6
2017-10-27 8.8
2017-11-03 10.0
2017-11-10 11.1
2017-11-17 12.6
2017-11-24 13.9
2017-12-01 14.0
2017-12-08 14.9
2017-12-15 14.9
2017-12-22 15.5
2017-12-29 19.8
2018-01-05 22.7
2018-01-12 17.9
2018-01-19 20.4
2018-01-26 20.9
2018-02-02 14.0
POT STOCK TRADING MULTIPLES
Can the marijuana industry get large enough – and profitable enough – to justify that kind of valuation?
Here's how the numbers shake out.
First, let's look at demand for cannabis: Statistics Canada published a study in January that estimated Canadians spent $5.7-billion on marijuana in 2017, when the product was still illegal. The agency figured 4.7 million citizens smoked, vaped or baked hash brownies, consuming 773,000 kilograms of marijuana. Obviously, most of the supply came from black-market sources. Statscan pegs the average price at $7.43 a gram.
Average national cannabis price
Per gram
Medical purposes
Non-medical purposes
7.007.508.008.509.009.50$10.0020102011201220132014201520169.069.06
THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: STATSCAN
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Characteristics Medical purposes Non-medical purposes
2010-01-01 9.06 9.06
2011-01-01 9.14 9.14
2012-01-01 9.3 9.3
2013-01-01 9.5 9.4
2014-01-01 9.27 9.05
2015-01-01 8.92 8.5
2016-01-01 8.69 8.09
2017-01-01 8.18 7.43