For Canadian cannabis investors, 2021 was a rollercoaster ride of a year driven largely by wild swings in expectations for federal legalization south of the border, and plunging recreational pot prices at home that continue to test the financial resilience of producers. 

At the same time, Canada's pot firms are anxiously awaiting Ottawa's three-year review of its industry-defining legislation. But the Health Minister's deadline to table findings and recommendations in the House of Commons and Senate isn't until early 2023.

With yet another year of uncertainty on the horizon, Yahoo Finance Canada spoke to three industry stakeholders about the trends they see shaping the sector, and what's on their wishlist of policy changes from Ottawa.

Next month, Aurora Cannabis Inc. (TSX: ACB) (Nasdaq: ACB) will release fourth quarter financial results and we expect the market to be highly focused on the numbers that are reported and any forward looking guidance from the management team.

In the prior quarter, the Canadian Licensed Producer reported positive earnings per share (EPS) which surprised us. The positive EPS in the third quarter follows a few quarters of Aurora Cannabis recording negative EPS that also came in lower than what analysts expected.  (Raed full article here)

A pair of licensed cannabis stores selling unregulated hemp products has prompted Ontario’s pot regulator to issue a warning to retailers.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario warned pot shops on Monday that it has uncovered instances of retailers selling products that violate their license terms, in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press.

“The AGCO has learned that some cannabis licensees are offering and selling cannabis-based products, like lotions, edibles, topicals, etc., that have not been purchased from the Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS),” the regulator wrote in the letter.

The OCS is the provincial pot distributor for Ontario.

I am bearish on Aurora Cannabis (NASDAQ: ACB) as its mediocre growth outlook, lack of profitability, and bearish outlook from Wall Street analysts make it look like one of the weaker cannabis stocks.

Aurora Cannabis is a cannabis producer that serves both the medical and consumer marijuana markets. The company is headquartered in Alberta, Canada.

Strengths

Aurora Cannabis is the No. 1 limited partnership company based in Canada in global medical cannabis.

It has more than eight licensed production facilities and operates in 25 countries. It also has a capacity of more than 600,000 kilograms of cannabis production per year, with a large portion of that based in Canada, though its presence is growing in other countries around the world.

The figures represent a 35 per cent increase in year-over-year sales nationwide.

Canadians spent more than $364 million on retail cannabis products in the month of October, according to the latest figures from Statistics Canada.

Cannabis stocks like Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED)(NYSE:CGC) and Tilray Inc. (TSX:TLRY)(NASDAQ:TLRY) still hold nice growth potential.

Cannabis stocks were outstanding vehicles for growth following the 2015 Canadian federal election. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals fulfilled their big legislative promise and legalized recreational cannabis across Canada. That came into effect on October 2018. Since then, cannabis stocks have been a disappointing headache. Today, I want to look at two cannabis stocks that could buck this trend in 2022. Should investors have faith in this struggling sector? Let’s find out.

 The Valens Company Inc. (NASDAQ: VLNS) (TSX: VLNS) (the "Company" or "The Valens Company"), a leading manufacturer of cannabis products, announces it has entered into a manufacturing partnership with Montreal Cannabis Médical Inc. ("MTL" or "MTL Cannabis") to provide manufacturing and extraction services for MTL's pre-rolls and vapes.

Valens expects the contract to begin at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2022.

Three years ago when Canada legalized recreational weed and investors’ enthusiasm was higher than a weed party, a Bizworld column pointed out the pitfalls of investing in marijuana stocks.

Canada’s 17 marijuana stocks were overvalued at $3.5 billion with a mere $30 million total sales. None were profitable.

Not much has changed in the profit ledger.

The top 11 as selected by Investopdia and Cantechletter have increased sales but still bleed red ink like an atmospheric river.

Between them these companies are on track for $3.7 billion sales in the current fiscal year with losses of $3.9 billion. Hardly inviting to investors.

Together they have accumulated deficits of $2.25 billion since starting.