Reddit rally behind pot stocks: Curaleaf's Boris Jordan

CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” team discusses how retail investors keyed in on pot stocks with cannabis company Curaleaf executive chairman Boris Jordan. For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

Several cannabis stocks dropped Thursday, giving up some of the sharp gains from earlier this week as Reddit traders piled into the names.

Shares of Tilray fell 40% after rallying more than 40% in the first three trading days this week. Aphria lost 25%, following a 58% gain to start the week. Aurora Cannabis fell 17% after a nearly 48% rally since Monday. Canopy Growth shares declined by 17%.

These pot stocks were poised to extend their rallies before Thursday’s open, surging in premarket trading. Shortly ahead of the market open, however, the names turned sharply lower.

The group of cannabis companies garnered attention this week from the same WallStreetBets Reddit army that contributed to GameStop’s epic short squeeze last month. The social media members have been posting messages about their profits in pot stocks and encouraging other traders to join in.

“Here we go my! TLRY to the mooon!!!” one post said Thursday.

“Weedstocks, the new WSB darling,” another post said.

However, the trade appeared to unravel on Thursday, with the stocks coming back down to Earth. Several analysts that cover the cannabis companies told CNBC on Wednesday the price action this week has little basis in fundamentals.

Part of the discussion on Reddit has centered around the pending merger between Tilray and Aphria. Other social media users have mentioned the possible decriminalization of the plant at the federal level under the Biden administration as a positive catalyst for the group.

The move in pot stocks could also be related to high short-interest ratios, which measure how many of a company’s traded shares are being used in bets against a company. GameStop and AMC Entertainment were targeted by retail traders in part because their high short interest made the stocks attractive candidates for a so-called short squeeze. Tilray’s short interest is equal to 22.5% of the shares available for trading, according to FactSet.

Some of these retail investors have been holding onto these stocks since 2017 and 2018 and are expressing optimism about the newfound interest from other investors.

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12 Comments

  1. A raccoon on April 17, 2021 at 5:58 pm

    Cnbc brings a competitor to bash the largest companies in the world . Then proceed with the simplistic narrative retailers on reddit is the only reason the stocks went up. What about Tlry becoming the largest company in the world.
    Whey they haven’t commented about the new partnerships in *Germany , *Portugal , *Spain , * France and the UK?

    Seems a bit one sided …



  2. ROYALTY_ DGAF on April 17, 2021 at 6:05 pm

    SnDL let’s gooo was o the moon guys



  3. Anthony Warner on April 17, 2021 at 6:07 pm

    Power to the Billions not the 3000 globalists destroying humanity.



  4. BxxDxx Hoodoo on April 17, 2021 at 6:17 pm

    HAH HA HA HA LOSER ZOOMERS. GET BACK TO MY FRY AND TENDIE BASKET ON THE DOUBLE WAGIE



  5. Anthony Kulyak on April 17, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    Lost 120 on sndl



  6. Daniel Masis on April 17, 2021 at 6:22 pm

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  7. TheM0joDoj0 on April 17, 2021 at 6:26 pm

    The US market is much larger for Cannabis flower but Canadian suppliers are using Canada as a test bed for processed products like bevs and oils. They can get financing, they can do research and they can create IP. That’s more important than retail sales in early years of an industry. Once Canada has strategic advantage on supply and IP they don’t need to physically be in the US to sell to the US. We get most our lumber for houses from Canada because they have an advantage in logging. We get our Semiconductors from Asia because an IP advantage. The logic that you can only make money near your physical location is a fallacy.



  8. mengamber21 on April 17, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    MSM losing their sht when poor people set the trends for trading



  9. 地球人日本在住M QAnon on April 17, 2021 at 6:34 pm

    Fight holding the LOVE🤨

    winning untill the truth and the liberty🥺

    We knows a lot about truth✌

    keep up one’s effort
    not alone😁

    ✨Change the WORLD✨

    never ever give up😤

    From Japan😁



  10. Brian Tait on April 17, 2021 at 6:37 pm

    Lol nobody cares about Curaleaf



  11. Johnathan Jaco on April 17, 2021 at 6:41 pm

    I’m starting to regret Wall Street bets becoming main stream



  12. Sadin Rahman on April 17, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    JUST DO THE OPPOSITE OF CNBC, BEST ADVICE I GOT IN MY LIFE FOR TRADING