Okanagan companies see cannabis stocks soar during 'green gold rush'
OKANAGAN - The “green rush” for Canadian marijuana stocks in advance of legalization next summer has helped several Okanagan companies increase their value by tens of millions of dollars over the last couple of months.
Market stars like Aurora and Canopy have grabbed most of the headlines but a sector rise that seems have begun in early November has increased valuations of some local companies increase as much as 400 per cent.
Valens Groworks is headquarted in Vancouver but operates a 17,000 square foot facility on two acres in Kelowna.
It describes itself as a biotechnology company which is “commencing cannabis production and sales” under a Health Canada dealers license through a wholly owned subsidiary.
The company in a press release from late December last year announced it privately issued an additional five million shares at $1.40 a share.
VGW:CNX was sitting at around $2.55 yesterday afternoon giving it a market capitalization of $155 million with just under 61 million shares outstanding. That compares to a share price of just under a dollar per share in early November.
Vernon-based True Leaf Medicine was most recently in the news for its $3.3 million purchase of the 40-acre site in Lumby where it plans to construct a 16,000 square foot hydroponic grow building and an office, warehouse and extraction facility.
The company is known for being chaired by former B.C. Premier Mike Harcourt and says it will eventually be producing 2,500 kilograms of dried cannabis each year once it receives full Health Canada approval.
MJ:CNX was sitting at $1.62 yesterday afternoon giving it a market capitalization of $114 million on 70.5 million outstanding shares.
DOJA Cannabis describes itself as “Canada’s lifestyle brand and licensed producer”.
The company says one of its claims to fame is being among a limited number of licensed producers to “successfully navigate the import license process”.
In its latest news, DOJA was touting the import permit for cannabis seeds it got from Health Canada, part of its stated objective of providing a diverse range of products.
It’s not clear where the company’s production facility is located but it operates a cafe on Kelowna’s main street.
DOJA:CNX has seen its stock leap jump almost 400 per cent to $2.88 at one point yesterday afternoon from around 77 cents in early November.
THC Biomed is a licensed producer for Health Canada located in Kelowna. The company says it is engaged in “developing technologies, products and services to support the cannabis industry."
The company has a market capitalization of almost $244 million with just under 111 million shares outstanding.
THC:CNX too was sitting at $2.20 yesterday afternoon up almost three times from the 70 cents in early November.
What’s more interesting is THC Biomed’s spike happened just in the last two weeks instead of early November when the majority of the cannabis-related companies saw sudden growth.
The spike was so sudden that trading in the company’s shares were temporarily halted several times on January 4 and 5.
If we missed any local marijuana companies being publicly traded, let us know through contact information below or in the comments on this story.
To contact a reporter for this story, email John McDonald or call 250-808-0143 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
