Tag: IIPR

High Yield Cannabis Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

During the last twelve months, many of the cannabis stocks, such as (TLRY) and Canopy Growth (CGC), have been hit hard with some stocks, such a Tilray (TLRY) dropping 76% and Canopy Growth (CGC) down 54%. Some investors and traders think that the marijuana stocks may have hit bottom and there may be some buying opportunities.

However, if  you are a relatively conservative investor, you probably want to receive a dividend in return for the risk you are taking. Luckily, there are some cannabis stocks that provide investors with a decent dividend yield.

One example is Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG), which has a couple divisions in the marijuana industry. Its Hawthorne Gardening Company division purchased General Hydroponics which manufactures and sells products for marijuana growers. Scotts has also invested in the hydroponics company AeroGrow International (AERO) which sells products to the small scale grower. Scotts’ current yield is 1.92%. Last August, the company raised its dividend to 58 cents per share, an incense of 5.5% over the previous quarter. The dividend has increased on an annual basis since 2015. The stock has a trailing price to earnings ratio of 15 and a forward PE of 22.

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV) is a seller of Marinol, also known as Dronabinol, a form of tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the main psychoactive ingredients of marijuana. The company has been paying quarterly dividends and has increased the annual dividend every year since 2013. AbbVie’s annual forward dividend yield is 5.77%. The company just raised its dividend to $1.07 per share per quarter, a 9.3% increase. The stock trades at 37 times trailing earnings and 8.5 times forward earnings.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (IIPR), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange,  owns, manages, and leases real estate to state licensed cannabis growing businesses. The company has increased dividend every quarter for the last four quarters, the latest dividend increasing my 28%. The company pays a dividend yield of 4.25%. The stock trades at 62 times trailing earnings and 20 times forward earnings.

Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMLSF) is an exchange traded fund that invests in many companies involved in the marijuana industry. It has a yield of 12%, based on its latest quarterly payment of $0.202 per share. The reason why the dividend income is so high is because most of the income comes from fees and interest from securities lending. This ETF’s largest holdings are:

  1. CANOPY GROWTH CORP.   13.42%
  2. CRONOS GROUP INC.   11.01%
  3. GW PHARMACEUTICALS PLC.   10.12%
  4. TILRAY INC.   9.05%
  5. APHRIA INC.   8.98%
  6. AURORA CANNABIS INC.   6.51%
  7. SCOTTS MIRACLE-GRO CO.   6.49%
  8. CHARLOTTES WEB HOLDINGS INC.   6.21%
  9. INNOVATIVE INDUSTRIAL PROPERT.   3.11%
  10. ORGANIGRAM HOLDINGS INC.   2.61%

Altria (MO) is primarily in the tobacco business, as it manufactures and markets cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The company invested over a billion dollars in Cronos Group (CRON), the Canadian marijuana company. The stock pays a generous yield of 7.0%.

Molson Coors (TAP) is the seventh largest beer maker in the world. The company is in partnership with HEXO (HEXO) to produce cannabis-infused beverages in Canada. Molson Coors yields 4.05%.

Constellation Brands (STZ), which produces and markets beer, wine, and liquor, has a major ownership of shares in the Ontario, Canada based cannabis company Canopy Growth (CGC). Constellation has a dividend yield of 1.56%.

To be blunt about it, here’s the straight dope. Maybe some of these stocks will get high, and give you a smoking portfolio from this budding industry. You may even hit the jack pot. Just make sure you weed out the bad stocks, because if you don’t, your portfolio will take a hit and go up in smoke.

Don’t forget to read:

Exclusive Interview with Chet Billingsley CEO of Mentor Capital on the Marijuana Industry

Is Apple Getting into the Marijuana Industry?

Disclosure: Author owns CGC and IIPR.

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.

Top REIT Short Squeeze Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

There has been a significant amount of concern among investors regarding real estate investment trusts, more commonly referred to as REITs, especially the ones involved in the commercial and retail sectors. The concern comes from the explosion of online purchasing by consumers. Why go to a storefront when you can buy items from the comfort of your own home? However, this concern may be overblown, which could provide some trading opportunities.

If REITs are heavily shorted, the potential gains can be significant. When stocks rise quickly, no matter what the reason, short sellers scramble to cover their positions by buying shares, and causing the price of the stock to move up even more.

So how can you make money on the long side from short squeezes? One technique that stock traders utilize is buying short squeeze stocks, companies have been heavily shorted, hoping that good news will come out. Here is a more extensive explanation of what a short squeeze is.

When you short a stock, it means that your goal is to make money from a drop in the price of a stock. Technically, what happens is that you borrow shares of a stock, sell those shares, then buy back those shares at a hopefully lower price so that those shares can be returned. This all happens electronically, so you don’t actually see all the borrowing and returning of shares; it just shows up on your screen as a negative number of shares.

Short sellers can be profitable, but sometimes when the stock moves against them, and begins to rise, the short sellers jump in right away to buy shares to cover their positions, creating what is called a short squeeze. When a short squeeze takes place, it can cause the share prices to increase fast and furiously. Any good news can trigger the short squeeze.

Some traders take advantage of this situation by looking for stocks to buy that may have a potential short squeeze. Here is what a short squeeze trader should take into consideration:

Short Percentage of Float ~ The float is the number of freely tradable shares and the short percentage is the number of shares held short divided by the float. Amounts over 10% to 20% are considered high and potential short squeeze plays.

Short Ratio / Days to Cover / Short Interest Ratio -This is probably the most important metric when looking for short squeeze trades, no matter what you call it. This is the number of days it would take the short sellers to cover their position based on the average daily volume of shares traded. This is a significant ratio as it shows how “stuck” the short sellers are when they want to buy in their shares without driving up the price too much. Unfortunately for the shortsellers, the longer the number of days to cover, the bigger and longer the squeeze.

Short Percentage Increase ~ This is the percentage increase in in the number of short sellers from the previous month.

Here is one example from the list below. Tanger Factory Outlet Centers (SKT) is a stock that is heavily shorted. As a matter fo fact, 49% of the float is shorted. Plus, the short interest ratio is 18. That means it would take the short sellers eighteen days to cover their positions, based on the number of shares that trade each day on average.

So what REITs are heavily shorted that may be worth a closer examination? Check out the following list, but be aware, that often some stocks are heavily shorted for a reason.

All these stocks have significant short metrics, however they all pay dividends.

Stock Symbol % of Float Days to Cover
CBL & Associates CBL 26.50% 16.5
Innovative Industrial Properties IIPR 28.20% 5.8
Pennsylvania REIT PEI 65.20% 21.1
Tanger Factory Outlet Centers SKT 48.90% 18
Seritage Growth Properties SRG 33.40% 53.7

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

Highest Yielding Marijuana Cannabis Pot Stocks

by Fred Fuld III

You may have seen some of the major gains in some of the marijuana stocks and wanted to jump on the bandwagon. As an example, Cronos (CRON) has increased by 13% so far this year and Aurora (ACB) rose 26% even after experiencing a big drop during the last six months.

Maybe you are a relatively conservative investor and you want to receive a dividend in return for the risk you are taking. Fortunately, there are several cannabis stocks that provide investors with a yield.

Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (SMG) has a couple divisions in the marijuana industry. Its Hawthorne Gardening Co. subsidiary purchased General Hydroponics which makes and markets products for the pot growers. The company has also invested in the hydroponics company AeroGrow International (AERO) which markets to the small scale grower. Scotts’ current yield is 2.17%, with the latest dividend of 58 cents paid September 10 (today), an incense of 5.5% over the previous quarter. The dividend has increased on an annual basis since 2015.

AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), the marketer of Marinol also known as Dronabinol, a form of tetrahydrocannabinol, one of the main psychoactive ingredients of marijuana. The company has been paying quarterly dividends and has increased the annual dividend every year since 2013. AbbVie’s annual forward dividend yield is 6.28%. The company’s most recent dividend is $1.07 per share, which will be paid to investors on November 15, 2019 to shareholders of record on October 11.

Innovative Industrial Properties Inc. (IIPR), which trades on the New York Stock Exchange,  owns, manages, and leases properties to state licensed cannabis growing facilities. Annual dividends since 2017 were 55 cents, $1.20, and $2.40. The dividends are paid quarterly, currently 60 cents per share, up from 45 cents for the previous quarter, an increase of 33%. The company pays a dividend yield of 2.79%.

Altria (MO) is the tobacco company that manufactures and markets cigarettes and smokeless tobacco. The company invested over a billion dollars in Cronos Group (CRON), the Canadian marijuana company. The stock has a forward yield of 7.9%.

Molson Coors (TAP) is the seventh largest brewer in the world. The company is in partnership with HEXO (HEXO) to produce cannabis-infused beverages in Canada. Molson Coors yields 4.03%.

Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (HMLSF) is an exchange traded fund that invests in many companies involved in the marijuana industry. It has a yield of 7.54%.

Constellation Brands (STZ), the beer, wine, and liquor producer, has a significant ownership in the Ontario, Canada based cannabis company Canopy Growth (CGC). Constellation has a dividend yield of 1.44%.

Let’s hope some of these stocks get high, and provide you with a smoking portfolio.

Don’t forget to read:

Exclusive Interview with Chet Billingsley CEO of Mentor Capital on the Marijuana Industry

Is Apple Getting into the Marijuana Industry?

Disclosure: Author owns CGC and a long option position in ACB.