Top Cannabis Tax Selling Stocks for a January Bounce

by Fred Fuld III

Many of the cannabis related stocks have been burned during the last year, which makes them possible tax sale opportunities.

A tax selling stock is a stock that is currently selling for a low price due to heavy year-end selling for tax purposes, but was trading at much higher levels earlier in the year.

As the year-end approaches, many investors employ the technique called tax harvesting , which is the selling of loser stocks to offset any gains that may have been established during the year.

With all the heavy selling, the price of the stocks that have had big drops tends to drop far more than what would normally take place during the rest of the year.

So traders and investors are on the lookout for stocks that are heavily hit, hoping for a significant bounce in January, once the tax selling is over.

So if you are looking for these types of stocks, here is a selection of some marijuana stocks that have dropped by over 15% year-to-date, with five of then sinking by more than 50%.

Stock Symbol YTD Return
Aphria APHA -17%
Aurora Cannabis ACB -28%
Cannabis Sativa CBDS -78%
Canopy Growth CGC -28%
Cronos CRON -25%
Hexo HEXO -38%
Mentor Capital MNTR -60%
Sundial Growers SNDL -55%
Terrra Tech TRTC -59%
Tilray TLRY -69%

Hopefully some of these stocks will get high in January.

Disclosure: Author owns CBDS, CGC, MNTR, and has a long option position in ACB.

Top Marijuana Cannabis ETFs

by Fred Fuld III

If you think that marijuana is a growth industry and you aren’t sure which is the best cannabis stock to invest in, you have an alternative. Or maybe you are looking for an easy way to play the tax loss pot stocks.

The alternative is investing or trading a cannabis ETF, of which there are several.

The largest one by market cap and volume is the ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), which also happens to be the oldest, founded in 2015. The ETF has an expense ratio of 0.75% and pays a high yield (no pun intended) of 4.99%. Its two largest holdings are GW Pharmaceuticals (GWPH) and Cronos (CRON).

The other cannabis related ETF that pays a yield is the AdvisorShares Vice ETF (ACT), however, marijuana stocks make up a limited amount of the portfolio as it also invests in alcohol and tobacco companies. It pays a yield of 1.56%.

A purer play is the AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF (YOLO), which was founded this year. Its largest holding is Village Farms International (VFF) and the second largest is Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR).

The following is a list of all the major cannabis ETFs.

Fund Name Symbol Expense Ratio Yield Founded Largest Holding 2nd Largest Holding
AdvisorShares Pure Cannabis ETF YOLO 0.74% 2019 VFF IIPR
AdvisorShares Vice ETF ACT 0.99% 1.56% 2017 TMO ABT
Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF CNBS 0.75% 2019 GWPH CGC
Cambria Cannabis ETF TOKE 0.42% 2019 MEDIF GWPH
ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF MJ 0.75% 4.99% 2015 GWPH CRON
Global X Cannabis ETF POTX 0.50% 2019 GWPH APHA
The Cannabis ETF THCX 0.70% 2019 MEDIF GWPH

Let’s hope your portfolio gets high with one of these ETFs.

Disclosure: Author didn’t own any of the above at the time the article was written.