We've been dealing with a bifurcated market for most of 2020. Value stocks have been the babies tossed out with the bathwater. Meanwhile, growth stocks have flourished. The Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSE: VUG) has left the Vanguard Value ETF (NYSE: VTV) by the side of the road. We are seeing bifurcation not only at the broadest level but also at the sector-specific level. And the divergence for one industry is about to get a lot wider. The great thing about this is that it offers both value and growth. Back in the Black... MarketLast week, the Canadian cannabis sector was pushed lower. It's already been a difficult year for the group. In fact, the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (OTC: HMLSF) has slid more than 34.5% in 2020. But the most recent catalyst is also a familiar villain: abysmal earnings by Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB). This added more downward force to a group of companies already under pressure for months. Aurora reported a 4.5% sequential decline in sales to CA$72.11 million. That was better than expected. But it forecast next quarter's sales to be between CA$60 million and CA$64 million. At the midpoint, that's not only a 14% sequential decline but also well below the CA$79.6 million analysts had forecast. Shares of Aurora tumbled 29.4% on the report and have since set new 52-week lows. Even worse, the undertow pulled down Aphria (Nasdaq: APHA), Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC), Cronos Group (Nasdaq: CRON), Tilray (Nasdaq: TLRY) and the rest of the major Canadian licensed producers too. And now the only Canadian major posting a positive return since the end of June is Aphria. Aurora warned that the illicit market was back in force, eating away at its market position. As we've heard from industry insiders here previously, the pandemic not only disrupted brick-and-mortar and traditional businesses, but apparently also derailed the illegal market, both in Canada and in the U.S. But just as we've seen across a number of industries, the black market has recovered. I've long considered Canadian cannabis companies the blue chips of the industry. They have the largest global footprints, but the glory days of explosive growth are waning. And most of them don't offer attractive valuations at the moment. But for cannabis investors, it isn't all lemons. There's still a market booming... poised to get even bigger and alight with growth. |
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