Canopy Growth Company (CGC)
On Tuesday, CGC announced it had won a key extraction license in Saskatoon from Health Canada, for its KeyLeaf Life Sciences facility. This facility is going to be available by Fall 2019 and will be able to extract up to 5,000 kg of hemp daily. Having this license will ensure they have the supply to meet demands in medical, CBD, and recreational markets.
It has also been noted, the recently fired CEO, Bruce Linton announced he was buying more shares of CGC. He says Canopy Growth continues to execute opportunities to improve and also says the stock is cheap right now, and hes buying more because of the great team they have. Linton is still on the board of CGC and says he wants the next CEO to be a female. Historically, creating change in management is bullish and a female CEO running the world’s largest cannabis company should make positive headline news.
There has been frequent call buying in CGC. We see the JAN 32.5 and JAN 35 call buying. In total there have been about 17,000 bought over the past week.
Aphria, Inc. (APHA)
Aphria allows for the most natural growing conditions available to produce safe medical cannabis products. Its plants thrive from being 100% greenhouse grown in state of the art greenhouses. They back its safe and consistent products as well as having a superior patient care team to help customers along the way.
Aphria had surprisingly strong Q4 earnings reports which surprised Wall St analysts with its 158% increase in adult-use sales. As Investor’s Business Daily pointed out, Aphria’s overall revenue in Q4 jumped 75% to C$128.6 million, 31% higher than analysts’ average estimate. Even better, Aphria’s revenue from recreational pot grew 158% year-over-year to C$18.5 million.
There was also recent buying in from a Hedge Fund legend, Jim simons. According to 13F filings, his firm bought over 240,000 shares worth $1.7 million. He clearly sees potential in the cannabis sector as he poured money into Aurora Cannabis (ACB) as well as Aphria, Inc (APHA).
Cara Therapeutics (CARA)
Cara Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing new chemical entities designed to alleviate pruritus by selectively targeting peripheral kappa opioid receptors (KORs).
This past week, CARA announced they entered into commercial license agreement with Enteris BioPharma, Inc. This is the next step for them in developing their oral KORSUVA while Phase 2 trials are going on. With this increase in technology, we want to keep an eye on these phase trials news. Cara Therapeutics is developing Korsuva to treat itching in patients with CKD, chronic liver disease, and atopic dermatitis. The drug candidate crushed its most important phase 3 trial in late May.