Canopy Growth reported fiscal Q3 net sales of C$83M, up 250% sequentially, driven by legal recreational use sales in Canada, Piper Jaffray analyst Michael Lavery tells investors in a post-earnings research note. He points out that the revenues were modestly below his C$87M estimate, but ahead of consensus of C$81M. The analyst consider this quarter's momentum "to be a good step in its rampup trajectory as the Canadian adult-use market builds." Lavery continues to estimate a $250B-$500B potential long-term global cannabis market, with a $15B-$50B near-term opportunity, and he believes Canopy is well positioned in the sector. The analyst keeps an Overweight rating on the shares with a $60 price target.

Alliance Global Partners notes that the Associated Press reported, citing five sources familiar with the matter, that the DEA plans to propose to reschedule cannabis to Schedule III from Schedule I, acknowledging its medical use and lower abuse potential. The firm would view the proposed rescheduling of cannabis as "the most notable cannabis reform in decades" and looks for a formal proposed rule from the DEA in the Federal Register in the near term. The biggest known impact of rescheduling to Schedule III is the removal of the onerous 280E tax, which would provide direct cash benefits to companies that had essentially been paying taxes on gross profits, says the firm, which adds that it views rescheduling as "the first notable domino in terms of cannabis federal reform - with future actions including a Garland Memo & potential SAFER banking." Publicly traded companies in the cannabis space include Aurora Cannabis (ACB), CV Sciences (CVSI), Canopy Growth (CGC), Cronos Group (CRON), Goodness Growth (GDNSF), Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF), IGC Pharma (IGC), Tilray (TLRY), Trees Corporation (CANN) and Trulieve Cannabis (TCNNF).