Why Canopy Growth Wilted as the Market Grew Today

What happened

Overall, the stock market saw a pleasant and healthy bounce on the last trading day of the week. Canopy Growth (CGC -1.40%), however, apparently didn’t get the memo. Shares of the Canadian marijuana company slipped by 1.4% as the S&P 500 index rose by nearly that amount. The culprit was a price-target cut from an analyst.

So what

That morning, prognosticator Matt Bottomley of Canadian financial services company Canaccord Genuity took a pair of scissors to Canopy Growth. He now believes the company is worth only 3.50 Canadian dollars ($2.71) per share, down from his previous target of CA$4.50 ($3.49). The new level is down roughly $0.10 from Canopy Growth’s latest closing share price.

Bottomley is maintaining his sell recommendation on the marijuana stock, meanwhile. 

The reasons for the adjustment weren’t immediately apparent, but this is hardly the first time Canopy Growth has gotten a chop.

In fact, it’s actually a fairly standard occurrence for marijuana stocks, particularly those based in Canada. That country’s weed market is rather saturated, and it faces a large set of daunting challenges, including black market competition, retail licensing headaches, and limited opportunities to expand outside of Canada.

Now what

Canopy Growth has been in the radar of analysts in recent weeks and not in a good way.

Like Bottomley, several have reduced their price targets on the shares; one big catalyst was the company’s fourth-quarter results published in late May. Although the company managed to narrow its net loss on a year-over-year basis, revenue slipped notably, and its asset impairment and restructuring costs continued to be considerable.

Canopy Growth is a company sorely in need of good news, and this latest analyst move didn’t provide any.