Horizons Archives - Green Market Report

Canadian-based Horizons ETFs Management Inc. has completed the quarterly rebalances of the holdings of the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF (TSX: HMMJ) and the Horizons US Marijuana Index ETF (NEO: HMUS). HMMJ is an index (or passively managed) ETF, which seeks to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the North American Marijuana Index, net of expenses. The North American Marijuana Index selects from a current universe of companies that have operations that may include one or more offerings of biopharmaceuticals, medical manufacturing, distribution, bio-products, and other ancillary businesses related to the marijuana industry.

Marijuana Life Sciences Index

This quarter, 3 companies were added to HMMJ’s portfolio:

Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. said that it has filed its final prospectus to launch the Horizons US Marijuana Index ETF. Units of the exchange-traded fund have been conditionally approved for listing by the NEO Exchange and are slated to begin trading on April 18, 2019, under the ticker symbols HMUS (Canadian dollar units) and HMUS.U (U.S. dollar units).

“While marijuana remains federally illegal for medical and recreational usage in the United States, the number of legal cultivators and distributors at the U.S. state level continues to grow. Many of these companies have chosen Canadian stock exchanges to list their stocks in order to raise capital to meet growing investor demand,” said Steve Hawkins, President, and CEO of Horizons ETFs. “HMUS will be the first index ETF solution to focus solely on identifying and investing directly in, U.S. marijuana and hemp companies. As the U.S. continues to further liberalize its marijuana regulations, we anticipate that more investors will be looking to invest in companies with significant business operations in the U.S. market and HMUS will provide a diversified and liquid way to gain that exposure in one ETF.”

The company said that HMUS will be the first ETF in the world that is solely focused on providing exposure to companies with significant business activities in, or significant exposure to, the United States marijuana or hemp industries. HMUS is an index  ETF, which seeks to replicate, to the extent possible, the performance of the US Marijuana Companies Index, net of expenses.

The NEO Exchange is a Canadian stock exchange based in Toronto. According to Wikipedia, it is marketed as Canada’s New Stock Exchange, NEO aims to help companies, dealers, and investors by creating a better listing experience, eliminating predatory market behaviors such as high-frequency trading and implementing a unique market making program to ensure liquidity.

Companies In The Index

The top-20 constituents and weights of the Underlying Index as of April 15, 2019, are in the table below:

Horizons said in a statement that the companies in the index are selected from Canadian and U.S. exchanges. While some securities may be listed on major North American exchanges, the majority of the securities currently trade on North American exchanges that include but are not limited to the Canadian Securities Exchange and NEO.

The Underlying Index is market-capitalization-weighted, subject to a cap for each constituent issuer of a maximum of 10% of the net asset value of the Underlying Index at the time of any rebalancing. For a security to be eligible for the Underlying Index, the issuer will generally need to have a market capitalization of greater than $75 million.

“The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF was the first Marijuana ETF listed in the world. We launched that ETF shortly before cannabis was fully legalized in Canada,” said Mr. Hawkins. “We see a lot of similarities with the regulatory environment in the U.S. to what we saw in Canada, three years ago. If the U.S. were to enact any type of federal legalization, either medical or recreational, that would immediately make the U.S. the largest federally approved cannabis market in the world. HMUS will give investors direct diversified access to this early stage sector which has the potential of future U.S. regulatory change.”

The Horizons Marijuana ETF (HMMJ) has added four new companies to the portfolio. They include Hempco Food & Fiber (HEMP), Lexaria Bioscience Corp. (LXX), The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD) and Village Farms International (VFF).

“The HMMJ portfolio continues to grow as more companies achieve a size and scale that allows them to be eligible for inclusion in the North American Marijuana Index,” said Steve Hawkins, President, and Co-CEO of Horizons ETFs. “Now that we have confirmed that the official start-date of recreational marijuana legalization will commence on October 17, 2018, we expect that more companies in Canada will continue to ramp-up their marijuana-focused activities over the next quarter.”

Horizons said in its statement that rebalancing of the North American Marijuana Index, and consequently HMMJ, occurs each calendar quarter. At that point, all stocks eligible for inclusion in the index are weighted by their respective market capitalization. However, no single stock can exceed 10% of the weight of the index at the rebalance date

The Horizons Emerging Growers Index (HMJR) added several new companies to its portfolio. They include Heritage Cannabis Holdings (CANN), Supreme Cannabis (FIRE) Invictus MD Strategies (GENE), Golden Leaf Holdings (GLH), Newstrike Resources (HIP), Liberty Health Sciences (LHS), Matica Enterprises (MMJ), Friday Night Inc. (TGIF) and THC Biomed (THC).

The Index also removed some companies that no longer qualified. These included Canada House Wellness Group (CHV), Liberty Leaf Holdings (LIB), Marapharm Ventures (MDM), PUF Ventures (PUF) and Hydropothecary Corporation (HEXO).

“We would expect HMJR to have a slightly higher turnover than HMMJ, since it can hold stocks with smaller market capitalizations, but it will also be required to sell stocks that exceed a certain market capitalization,” said Mr. Hawkins. “Companies that graduate out of HMJR could potentially be in the HMMJ portfolio, so between the two ETFs, investors would have a more comprehensive exposure to the investable universe of listed marijuana securities in Canada.”

According to the company, HMJR has four key differences compared to HMMJ. HMJR invests in smaller market-capitalization companies than HMMJ and its portfolio is 100% invested in marijuana producers and distributors, and it can have exposure to companies outside of North America. In addition, HMMJ is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, while HMJR is listed on the NEO Exchange.