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Tilray Inc.’s exploding share price allowed it to pass Canopy Growth Corp. Monday as the world’s most valuable cannabis company by market capitalization.
Tilray gained 10.2 per cent Monday to close at US$120.19 on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The shares are up nearly 400 per cent since Aug. 14, the day before Canopy announced a US$4 billion investment from its partner Constellation Brands Inc. Canopy shares are up about 97 per cent since then.
Over the past month, cannabis investors have been chasing the next big beverage-venture winner in the space. Monday, BNN Bloomberg reported that Coca-Cola is in talks with Aurora Cannabis Inc. to develop cannabidiol-infused drinks. The news sent Aurora up nearly 17 per cent.
But it did nothing to cool investor enthusiasm for Tilray, the only major marijuana company primarily listed on U.S. exchanges. With Monday’s close, Tilray has a market capitalization of US$11.195 billion, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence. That translates to about $14.58 billion in Canadian dollars, using the Bank of Canada’s average exchange rate for Monday.
Canopy Growth, which rose 2.8 per cent to close at $63.23 Monday, has a market cap of $14.45 billion, according to S&P.
The share-count information used to calculate market capitalization is based on the most recent corporate filings by the companies and may not represent Monday’s share counts, which are not publicly known.
Canopy’s deal to issue new shares to Constellation in exchange for its investment will likely allow it to easily re-take the market-cap lead from Tilray this fall, after the deal closes, based on its current share price.