- Tilray stock rose 21.8% on Thursday
- High level of call contracts expire this Friday.
- US lower house will take up decriminalization legislation next week.
Canadian cannabis powerhouse Tilray Brands (TLRY) is reaping the benefits of the US House of Representatives adding major legislation important to the industry to the calendar for next week. Tilray stock is up more than 18% at Friday's open to a momentary high of $8.35. In just a week the company has doubled its market cap, and other competitors like Sundial Growers (SNDL), Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC), Aurora Cannabis (ACB) also benefitting from the optimism.
Tilray Brands Stock News: MORE Act has cannabis stocks rallying
The Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment & Expungement Act, or MORE Act, will receive focus from the House and taken up for discussion next week. This law would decriminalize cannabis at the federal level, which may allow cannabis companies to begin utilizing better financing through regular old banks. As of now, most banks will not work with cannabis growers, which forces them to seek out a much higher cost of capital. The law would also erase past federal criminal offenses involving the sale of cannabis. This would be a major step toward broader decriminalization of recreational use that more states may follow, which would eventually open up new markets and customers to existing licensed growers.
Tilray call options are soaring in value on Friday morning, even those that expire at the end of the session. The $8 strike contract has soared more than 82% to $0.42, and at the time of writing 8,730 contracts have traded already. This is about 25% above open interest. Sundial Growers stock is up nearly 12%, and Cresco Labs has advanced more than 5%.
Tilray announced earlier this month that it had acquired $211 million in convertible notes from Hexo, another major competitor in Canadian cannabis. If exercised, Tilray would own about 37% of Hexo. This is yet another move by Tilray to grow its global footprint. The corporation already has access to the Canadian, US and European markets. The current management strategy is to raise revenue, now at $600 million annually, to $4 billion by 2024. Tilray seems to be trying to achieve this mostly through acquisitions. The stock is down 65% over the past year, partly because Tilray has diluted its shareholders by more than 50% in order to pay for some of these acquisitions.
Tilray Brands Forecast: Breaking through one year of resistance
On Thursday Tilray stock resolutely broke through top line resistance that has been working on the daily chart for about one year. The descending top line has been in play since about March 17, 2021, and connects to highs on June 9, 2021, and November 14, 2021. By closing up nearly 22% on Thursday, TLRY broke that trend line with force.
Resistance at $7.30 has now turned into support, with Friday's intraday high of $8.35. Although TLRY is selling off to $7.55 in mid-session, bulls will see regaining this $8.35 high as a significant goal. From there, the resistance target rises to $9.94 – the high from December 8, 2021.
TLRY 1-day chart