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Employees inspect and sort marijuana buds for packaging at the Canopy Growth Corp. facility in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada.
Chris Roussakis | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Canopy Growth shares rose after an analyst at Seaport Global Securities upgraded the Canadian pot maker on expectations the recreational marijuana market will give it a boost.
Analyst Brett Hundley upgraded Canopy to buy from neutral and hiked his price target on the stock to $31 per share. That’s a 24.5% upside from Friday’s close of $24.89. The stock traded up 1.9% at $25.37 in the premarket.
“Although regulatory development has been both disappointing and frustrating, there is no question that cannabis offers an attractive growth profile,” Hundley said in a note Monday. “In addition, the Canadian space is about to gain a fair amount of pricing power, in our view, as the 2.0 market opens up late this year.”
The 2.0 market refers to Canada’s plan to let pot producers add popular vapes, edibles and infused beverages to be sold legally later this year. Currently, only dried cannabis flower, oil and sublingual’s sprays are legal for sale in Canada.
“We think Canopy can regain some lost share of shelf, as it leverages R&D, IP and partnerships to bring leading value-added products to market,” Hundley said.
Canopy’s U.S.-listed shares have had a wild ride this year. The stock was up more than 88% at one point, but later tumbled and is now down more than 7% for 2019.
However, the stock’s plunge led analysts to reset their expectations for Canopy and Seaport’s Hundley says the new bar is “increasingly achievable.”
