Abstract

This research investigates the investment performance of Canadian listed cannabis stocks. Canada legalized medical marijuana in 2001, following the initiation of medical marijuana authorization by some states in the US starting in 1996, and completely approved cannabis products in 2018. Investing in the 89 Canadian cannabis equities (listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Canadian Securities Exchange, Toronto Venture Stock Exchange, and Over-the-Counter Market) as an industry portfolio, based on weekly returns for the 1996 to 2020 period, generated high mean returns, standard deviation, positive skewness, and kurtosis. Robustness tests taking the winsorised returns (deleting the top and bottom 10 percent of returns) produced qualitatively similar results. Further, both the portfolio alpha and beta were extremely high. More so, the Canadian cannabis portfolio garnered excess returns when compared to the Standard and Poor’s Toronto Stock Exchange Composite Index. Money managers, financial analysts, and investors should contemplate including Canadian listed  cannabis stocks based on their high investment return. 

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