Marijuana News Today: Pot Stock Market Shows Remarkable Growth Over Past Week

Marijuana News Today

The good times are back in the marijuana news today, with many marijuana stocks surging over the past week. Meanwhile, in Washington, the fight for marijuana legalization is heating up in Congress.

The big political news today is that U.S. Congress is divided about marijuana (but shouldn’t be).

With a groundswell of support for legal pot across the country, a pretty firm endorsement of marijuana legalization from the Democratic Party, and many Republican lawmakers also supporting legalization due to their pro-business sensibilities, this would at first blush seem to be an easy win for Congress: pass marijuana laws and satisfy almost everyone.

In order to see political change, you often need a confluence of stakeholders to support a movement. But when citizens, lawmakers, and big business all support a movement, it’s rare indeed to see said movement stall.

But stalling it is, at least at the congressional level. Despite all the different groups largely being in support of marijuana reform, we haven’t seen any major federal legislation pass that would ameliorate the current marijuana landscape in the United States.

We’ve seen attempts though; the SAFE Banking Act seemed an easy enough win. The proposed bill would allow banks to handle marijuana money without fear of federal intrusion.

Again, there are many reasons for there to be wide, bi-partisan support for such a bill. But even with Republican and Democrat lawmakers aiming to see the bill enshrined into law, and even with an easy passage through the House, the bill has stalled in the Senate. (Source: “Why the most pro-marijuana Congress ever won’t deal with weed,” Politico, September 9, 2019.)

And here’s where we need to focus our attention: the Senate, and more specifically, on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell is infamous for his ability to delay and derail nearly any bill that he sees fit. With his majority in the Senate secure, McConnell is among the most powerful people in America and wields that power with abandon.

As far as marijuana stock investors are concerned, that’s a bad thing. No matter your political leanings, the truth is that McConnell is bad for business. The Senate majority leader has no interest in making a move on marijuana legalization, so any such bills that come across his desk are likely to wither and rot.

The thing is that McConnell is not a traditional anti-drug crusader à la Jeff Sessions, but he is marijuana agnostic to the point of barely acknowledging the issue at all.

Without his support, there’s little hope for any legislation to be enacted, let alone full U.S. marijuana legalization.

As far as marijuana stocks are concerned, that’s a huge roadblock to what could be another meteoric rise. That said, the best thing for pot stocks going forward would be a change in opinion from McConnell (or a change in leadership after the next election).

While unlikely, the fall of McConnell would likely help spur marijuana legalization.

OGI Stock

Now that we’ve dispensed with all the political doom and gloom in the marijuana news today, let’s get to the good stuff: pot stocks are on the rise. With the marijuana correction seemingly abated—or at least subsided—for now, it’s again time to look forward to stock gains.

And gains are what we have been seeing in many parts of the industry over the past few days. While marijuana stocks today are a little uneven, almost every company has seen its share price rise over the past week. September is back to school for a lot of folks; for the marijuana stock market, it’s back to gains.

One company I’m especially excited about is OrganiGram Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:OGI). OrganiGram stock climbed two percent in early-morning trading today. Over the past five days, it jumped 20%.

And this is no surprise. OGI stock was one of the few stocks that many marijuana analysts agreed was undervalued.

When the marijuana correction hit and sent share prices falling, all that served to do was reduce an already-bargain stock to an even better price. No surprise that, with such a bargain on the table, many investors flocked back in droves to OrganiGram stock.

And I believe this stock will continue to rise for some time yet. OrganiGram has one of the best situations in the entire cannabis industry. The company is small enough to be an acquisition target but large enough to weather industry setbacks; the company is supremely nimble.

On top of that, OrganiGram is still a potential target for a partnership with a large company from the alcohol industry or another sector. Such a move would likely send OGI stock soaring.

TLRY Stock

Contrary to OGI stock’s recent success, we have Tilray Inc (NASDAQ:TLRY), which seems to be stuck in a rut. TLRY stock collapsed by nearly six percent in early-morning trading today, while over the past five days it has surged by over 17%.

While the stock’s gains over the last few days are impressive, there’s an important caveat here, a $30.00 share price. Tilray stock cannot seem to pass this price level. Whenever it does, it often faces a setback. When the stock falls too far below that number, it often sees a rally.

What this means is that investors interested in day trading likely have an opportunity here, but for long-term pot stock buyers, it’s harder to consider TLRY stock.

Tilray stock simply cannot bring itself to jump past that $30.00 barrier. Much of that is due to the stock’s tumultuous journey up until this point. From its absurdly strong initial public offering to the drawn-out decline that saw the stock fall to its current price, investors are certainly wary about the dangers that Tilray encompasses.

For long-term investors, I’d argue that they might want to seek greener pastures elsewhere. But for day traders and others looking to make a quick buck, using the $30.00 rule that has held for months regarding TLRY stock could be a good way to achieve some short-term gains, provided they don’t mind risk.

OGI and TLRY Stock Performances

The performances of OGI stock (black line) and TLRY stock (blue line) over the past week are seen in the chart below:

Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com

Analyst Take

The marijuana news today is overall positive, even if politically we’re not seeing the progress we’d like to.

While the machinations of U.S. politics continue to delay what is otherwise a no-brainer—marijuana reform is an absolute must in the country—I’m still pleased with the marijuana stock market’s performance today.

While uneven, many of the top pot stocks (including OGI stock) are performing well, and this bodes well for the remainder of 2019.