Americans spend $255.5 million on cannabis over the holiday weekend
Welcome back to our weekly series, Schaeffer's Cannabis Stock News Update, where we recap what happened in the world of marijuana stocks this week, and look ahead to how the cannabis industry will continue to develop in 2022.
Here is a quick roundup of major cannabis stock news during this holiday-shortened week:
Akerna Corp. (NASDAQ:KERN) released a flash report on Fourth of July holiday sales that showed cannabis buyers in the United States spent $255.5 million on cannabis product over the holiday weekend. There was a nearly 20% increase in year-over-year sales on the Friday ahead of the long weekend. According to KERN, "Holiday after holiday, our data indicates Americans are choosing to celebrate with cannabis. As more markets legalize cannabis and more people gain access to the plant, we expect these year-over-year increases to continue." Akerna stock is trading down 96% over the past 12 months.
Shareholders of HEXO Corp (NASDAQ:HEXO) approved the Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ:TLRY) and HT Investments MA LLC transaction during a reconvened special meeting on Tuesday. This approval was required before the note transaction could close following the Toronto Stock Exchange's conditional approval and the Competition Bureau's clearance. The expectation is that this transaction should close during Q3. Tilray stock is trading down 78% and HEXO stock is trading down 96% over the past 12 months.
Tilray also launched a new product in Québec on Tuesday. In collaboration with Société Québécoise du cannabis, the newly launched product is Hash-Infused Pre-Rolls. According to TLRY, these infused pre-rolls combine proprietary strains of Jean Guy and Starwalker Kush to reach approximately a 26% THC level. Tilray stock is down 52% year-to-date.
In its continued efforts to expand brick-and-mortar retail cannabis stores, High Tide Inc. (NASDAQ:HITI) announced its expansion into the British Columbia market on Thursday. HITI will acquire from Choom Holdings Inc. two retail cannabis stores in BC, six retail cannabis stores in Alberta, and one retail cannabis store in Ontario for $3.93 million. According to HITI, "With these acquisitions, we are able to bring our innovative discount club model to Vancouver, Canada's third-largest metropolitan area, as well as numerous new markets in Alberta where we do not yet have a presence." High Tide stock is down about 50% so far in 2022.