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New Age Beverages shares have tripled this month. Alkaline Water's stock more than doubled. And IntelGenx Technologies did that in a single day last week.
On the surface, the companies may not have much in common - one makes trendy Kombucha drinks, another pH-balanced water, while the last makes oral films for medications. But their plans in the emerging legal cannabis market has caught investors’ attention.
New Age Beverages owes its recent rally to a conference presentation earlier this month where company executives showed a slide titled “Tested CBD Beverage in CO,” referring to drinks infused with marijuana-derived cannabidiol. The stock added $14.5m (about R208m) to its market capitalisation that day alone, ending the session at $94.4m (about R1.4bn).
The maker of Coco Libre coconut water and Bucha Live Kombucha has since announced plans to debut its portfolio of CBD-infused beverages at a trade show for convenience stores in Las Vegas next month. As of Tuesday, Torrance, California-based New Age carries a valuation of about $190m (about R2.7bn).
And it’s not alone. Here are some of the other companies looking to get in on the green rush. A custom index of the cannabis-related stocks shows them outperforming the ETFMG Alternative Harvest exchange-traded fund, as well as the S&P 500, since the start of the year.
Advantis
The over-the-counter packaging company gained 22% Monday on an agreement to package cannabis-infused gummy edibles. The Jacksonville, Florida-based company said the candies "will be the first of several edibles to be packaged by Advantis."
Alkaline Water
Investors in this high-alkaline bottled-water manufacturer have seen their fortunes grow by 72% since the company announced that new products coming to market soon will include a hemp-derived CBD-infused Alkaline88 water.
Coca-Cola
Even mega-cap Coca-Cola can’t ignore this hot industry. The Atlanta-based soft-drink maker said it’s monitoring the cannabis industry and is interested in CBD-infused drinks. The move follows alcohol maker Constellation Brands’ multi-billion dollar investment in Canopy Growth.
Corbus Pharmaceuticals
The biotech stock saw a 54% spike on September 20 after saying it licenses about 600 compounds that target the same system in the human body that marijuana affects - even though its products are derived from synthetics and not the cannabis plant itself.
Intrexon
Shares in Intrexon, the Zika-drugmaker and genetic engineer of salmon, surged 32% Monday after announcing it had engineered a yeast strain to extract “low-cost, robust and consistent” cannabinoids for medical use.
IntelGenx Technologies
The maker of VersaFilm - a medication delivery product that dissolves in a patient’s mouth - has a non-binding letter of intent with pot provider Tilray to develop cannabis-based uses. The stock more than doubled on the announcement.
Shopify
The e-commerce platform is becoming the website provider of choice for Canada’s pot rollout after signing deals with several provinces and companies, including Aurora Cannabis, to host sales channels.
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