Category: Featured

Zero-Emission Mining. Canada is Setting the Standard.

Canada’s mining sector is economically crucial, and the global demand for minerals is only adding to its potential. The Government of Canada actively supports the sector by investing in innovative solutions that will strengthen Canada’s leadership in sustainable, efficient and safe mining.

The country is overflowing in critical minerals that are vital to the manufacturing of clean technologies, from solar panels to battery electric vehicles. Canada’s mining sector will be able to deliver those minerals to the world more quickly and efficiently, while speeding the global shift toward net zero. 

The Mining Association of Canada (MAC) has released their Towards Sustainable Mining® (TSM) Climate Change Protocol designed to minimize the mining sector’s carbon footprint, while enhancing climate change disclosure and strengthening the sector’s ability to adapt to climate change.

Consumer interests and market forces are driving a shift to low-carbon transportation models. How so? Take for example the fact that more and more Canadians want electric vehicles. 

Accordingly automakers are prepared to make investments to shift their manufacturing. This gives Canada an incredible opportunity to invest in electrification and drive a green recovery to help achieve our climate change goals.

Canada is the only nation in the western hemisphere with an abundance of cobalt, graphite, lithium and nickel, the minerals needed to make next-generation electric batteries.

With Canada’s natural resources and skilled workforce providing a competitive advantage, the next generation of battery supply chains looks to be headed to – Canada. 

This Junior Miner Has It Right

This company can really see upside in the new zero-emission environment.

 Surge Battery Metals Canada TSXV: (NILI) U.S. OTC: (NILIF): A proud ESG-Mandated company. Surge Battery Metals is focused on battery metals that will advance the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) to create a cleaner world while building new industries.

The EV market is putting huge pressure on Lithium, Copper and Nickel. But electric vehicle makers will only buy from miners that follow Environmental Social And Governance guidelines. 

In every project Surge is taking steps to cut greenhouse gas (CO2) emissions at all stages of the production chain, from underground ore mining to processing and refining.

This puts Surge in prime position to be a major industry supplier. 

 

Canadian Cannabis Stocks are Blazing

In Canada, recreational marijuana use was federally legalized in 2018, creating a number of legal cannabis companies, many of which went public. These stocks are a great way for US investors to participate in the global expansion of legal cannabis, a market that experts say will grow about 18% annually between 2020 and 2027.

Sales are growing to all new highs

Cannabis sales in Canada this year will reach $4 billion, well below projected US market sales of $23 billion.

Most encouraging is that the Canadian cannabis market is expected to grow twice as fast as the US market between 2020 and 2021 and nearly three times as fast from 2021 to 2022.

Spurring on this growth is household spending on marijuana consumed by adults. Regulated channels rose to $918 million ($800 million) in the last quarter of 2020, or $204 million more than expected for illegal marijuana over the same period.

Toronto is leading the way

The Toronto area, which is a leader in cannabis sales in Canada, has experienced significant business growth. They started 2020 with seven regulated stores and ended the year at 87. That jump helped boost sales from $17 million in January 2020 to $40 million ending in December 2020.

Sales of extracts and concentrates tripled between early and late 2020, ending last year with retail sales of $324 million, according to Statistics Canada.

Legal sales were also driven by recreational nutrition products, which had a full first year of sale. Grocery sales rose from $12.7 million in the first quarter to $42.2 million in the fourth quarter.

The legal market is also stimulated by falling prices and increasing product selection.

Medical use sales lag

Medical marijuana sales, recorded separately by the Office of Statistics Canada, continued a sluggish downward trend. Approximately $135 million was spent on medical cannabis products in the fourth quarter of 2020.

In total Canada spent $587 million on medical marijuana last year. That number includes all medical marijuana products sold directly to consumers by state-licensed producers. According to Canadian statistics, that also includes marijuana grown at home for medicinal purposes.Market

Canadian cannabis stocks to pay attention to:

  • Aurora international marijuana sales (ticker: ACB) are up 562%.
  • Aphria (APHA) up around 700% year over year.
  • Canopy Growth Corp. (CGC) by far the largest Canadian cannabis stock by market cap, valued at over $12 billion.
  • The growth of the Cronos Group (CRON) can be attributed to its blockbuster expansion into markets outside the US, where sales tripled from just under $4.6 million to $13.5 million annually.
  • OrganiGram Holdings (OGI) recently announced a deal with British American Tobacco (BTI) a 19.9% ​​stake in OGI resulted in a surge in shares.
  • Sundial Growers (SNDL) the company is shifting from wholesale to retail operations, the latter of which tends to offer much higher margins.
  • Tilray (TLRY) is the world’s largest cannabis company by sales and one of the biggest players in the legal marijuana game.
  • HEXO Corp. (HEXO) is Canada’s third largest licensed recreational marijuana company.

As strong growth for legalized edible and alternative cannabis products gain steam, keep your eyes open. There’s no doubt that the Canadian cannabis market has tremendous potential.

The Canadian Online Gaming Market Is Absolutely Booming

It’s happening. The Canadian gaming industry is growing at breakneck speed despite the global health crisis. In recent years alone, its value is estimated to have increased by 30% and is expected to exceed $200 billion by 2023.

What’s more, investment in esports has also increased, driven by revenue diversification in the gaming sector. Add-ons, expansions, in-game purchases, and monthly subscription services have created multiple revenue streams for eSports companies and their investors. The growth of live streaming games and league tournaments is also a key factor in the growth of the esports market.

While the eSports industry in the US and Asia is among the largest in the world, the influence of Canadian eSports and eSports shares in these countries is closing the gap.

Are These Companies Ready to Benefit from the Boom?

According to the Canadian Entertainment Software Association (ESAC), 23 million Canadians were considered gamers in 2020, and the gaming industry accounted for $4.5 billion for the country’s gross domestic product in 2019.

ESAC also reported that between 2019 and 2020, 35 percent of adults and 29 percent of children and youth engaged in esports. Additionally, more and more Canadians are participating in esports as spectators, with 40% of gamers participating in game streaming.

As well, data from analytics and research firm Newzoo shows that global gaming revenue could exceed $200 billion by 2023.

Companies such as Engine Media Holdings (TSXV:GAME), Enthusiastic Games (TSX: EGLX), and Score Media and Gaming (TSX: SCR) may be ready to take advantage of all this.

What are the catalysts driving this market shift?

Forced isolation has led to an increase in interactive game quests. Because of this, the popularity of computer and mobile entertainment in Canada is at its peak. Plus, access to game content has never been easier: all you need is a smartphone, laptop or console and an internet connection.

The epidemic has not subsided, quarantine restrictions have been maintained in many countries and the demand for games still remains high. Every publisher and developer are trying to fill a niche created with quality content for gamers.

Smartphones to Replace Gaming Consoles?

The mobile entertainment sector has grown over the years, as the smartphone market has also grown rapidly. Mobile technology is becoming more and more powerful and smartphone applications are approaching the level of computers and consoles. Monetization of mobile games is also very profitable, which is why the development of such projects is very popular and the budget for their promotion is huge.

Mobile content is also advancing on all fronts. By 2021, games for smartphones and tablets will account for 52%+ of the market, which is nearly $79 billion. Games for consoles (Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Switch) accounted for almost 28%, while the proportion of games for desktops and laptops fell to 20%.

Incentives to Play Abound

Currently the online gambling industry is experiencing one of the peak points of its development. It becomes very easy to find your favorite playing card and playing card platform or slot. The number of different casino bonus programs is also increasing. Canadian players can easily find casino listings with 100 free spins no deposit offers and increase their chances of success. The demand for online casinos is expected to continue to grow and this is natural considering the current world situation. In this way, online gambling will continue to contribute to the development of the Canadian gambling industry.

The increase in payment services goes hand in hand with the growing popularity of mobile games as consumers become more attracted to paid mobile content. It is now possible to make purchases with just one touch on the smartphone screen.

Pay to Play in Crypto

Cryptocurrencies have also experienced a boom in recent years. More and more platforms are accepting Bitcoin payments. This allows players to maintain their own anonymity while playing online.

In recent years, more and more Canadians are gaining access to high-speed Internet connections. Modern communication stations are installed even in remote mountainous areas. This has enabled millions of people to become confident online users.

Canada is Firing on All Cylinders

Not surprisingly, the online gaming industry is booming in Canada. And this is not the end of its development. Interest in online gaming has increased markedly as many people are looking for ways to spend time at home and communicate risk-free.

It has to be said that 5G will be the online gaming engine of the future. This technology will make internet connections faster and more accessible. Thanks to 5G, the number of Canadian users who prefer to play on their phones will increase significantly in a few years.

Canadian Health Regulators Evaluating Moderna Vaccine In Real Time

Massachusetts based biotech company Moderna is in the final stages of its COVID-19 vaccine approval process. The company, which focuses on drug discovery, drug development, and vaccine technologies based exclusively on messenger RNA, has a very promising COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Moderna, which has already been deep in vaccine trials in America, is now engaging with international regulators to fast track the approval of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Specifically in Canada, health regulators will evaluate the clinical trial data from the vaccine candidate in real-time in order to speed up the approval process in Canada.

Moderna’s rolling submission was accepted last week under the Canadian Minister of Health’s Interim Order, which permits companies to present safety and efficacy data and information as they become available, rather than waiting until a clinical trial ends.

Prior to initiating the fast tracked approval process in Canada, Moderna released encouraging data about its preclinical viral challenge study and its Phase 1 study of its vaccine candidate in healthy adults (ages 18-55 years) and older adults (ages 56-70 and 71+).

Moderna’s vaccine candidate is now the third COVID-19 vaccine candidate accepted by Canada for this rolling submission process. Canada has already accepted BioNTech and Pfizer’s candidate and AstraZeneca’s candidate for the fast-tracked review process. Although several of Moderna’s testing subjects experienced adverse side effects, the trials have gone through relatively smoothly with positive results.

The Canadian government is attempting to be as transparent and as safe as possible with this rolling review program. No vaccine candidate can be approved for this program until all necessary safety measures are met. Canada will also publish all evidence and data following the approval of the vaccine. The government also pledged to order up to 20 million doses of Moderna’s vaccine once it fully completes the approval process.

Second Largest REIT In Canada Reports $60-Million Decrease In Profit

Before COVID-19 began ravaging North America in March 2020, the real estate market in Canada was the most stable that it had been in decades. According to CMHC in 2019, the national vacancy rate was 2.00%, the average turnover rate was 17.10%, and the average rental growth rate was approximately 4.10%-up from 3.60% in the prior period. Additionally, almost every market in Canada posted positive rental growth in 2019.

Despite the remarkable resiliency of Canadian real estate, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust said that its third-quarter profit was down $60 million from the same time last year due to the impact of COVID-19 on its tenants.

RioCan is the second-largest REIT in Canada and owns 289 primarily retail properties. RioCan’s holdings consist primarily of supermarkets and shopping centers. RioCan’s major holdings include Lawrence Allen Centre in Toronto, Chapman Mills Marketplace in Ottawa, RioCan Centre Kingston in Kingston, and Burlington Centre in Burlington, and its largest tenant is Loblaw, which makes up about 5% of their rental revenue.

Unfortunately, COVID-19 had a negative impact on RioCan and its holdings. RioCan reported $117.6 million of net income or 37 cents per unit for the quarter ended Sept. 30. This is down from $177.6 million or 58 cents per unit in the 2019 third quarter. RioCan blamed this year-over-year decline on pandemic-related provisions related to rent abatement, bad debts, and higher net fair value losses.

Revenue fell to $302.3 million from $353.9 million a year earlier, while Cash flow from operations also declined to $128.8 million from $142.8, and  41 cents per unit from 47 cents per unit. Cash flow from operations, when evaluating REITs, is especially important.

RioCan also made sure to note that as of the end of the quarter on Sept. 30, almost all of its tenants were open and operating compared to only 85% at the beginning of the quarter. However, one can only wonder if this will last due to the second COVID wave ravaging Canada and the shutdowns it has caused.

FY20 Was Brutal For Score Media and Gaming

Toronto based Score Media and Gaming released its financial results for both the quarter and fiscal year ending August 31, 2020. To put it mildly, it was not a pretty sight.

Although the digital sports media company started off 2020 with a bang after launching its gaming operations, after seeing their financials, it’s clear that COVID took an unavoidable toll on its core business operations. Score reported widening their loss by 300% in FY 2020, and also reported a  33.5% decline in revenue. Revenue was $2.5 m for Q4 F2020 ($6.4 m 2019), compared to total revenue was $20.7 m ($31.1 m 2019) for the 12 months ended August 31, 2020.

Score, despite the rousing start to its 2020, also reported negative net gaming revenue due to advertising expenses and fair value changes on unsettled bets. In Q4 F2020, Score also reported an EBITDA loss of $8.3 million compared to a loss of $4.1 million in 2019, and a loss of $30.5 million for the full year compared to a loss of $6.5 million in 2019. Outside of COVID causing the suspension of sports, Score’s increased expenses from expanding its gaming activities caused the negative EBITDA as well.

Despite the glum reports, Score ended their earnings report with both short term and long term optimism. They mentioned that despite the headwinds, they managed to successfully prepare for the return of sports, and expand both Colorado and Indiana with the launch of theScore Bet. The total gaming handle on theScore Bet was up more than 500% year-over-year in September. Media revenue also set an all-time high record for a single month in September, as advertisers were desperate to engage with fans. Score plans on expanding to even more states in 2021, and seemed very optimistic about their future prospects.

Score Media and Gaming Inc. is publicly traded on the TSX, and is a digital sports media company. The Toronto-based company’s television network was acquired by Rogers Communications in 2012. Today, Score owns and operates a digital sports media platform and sports betting products that deliver sports scores, data, news, and sportsbook offerings.

School Re-openings Have Driven Canada’s Unexpected Job Growth…But Can It Last?

Largely due to school re-openings allowing parents to return to work, Canada’s economy is showing better than anticipated job growth. Canada added 378,200 jobs in September, more than double the median forecast of 150,000. With five straight months of job gains, Canada’s labor market has now recovered three-quarters of the 3 million jobs lost during March and April. September’s unemployment rate also fell to 9% from 10.2% in August. Economists were expecting an unemployment rate of 9.8%. These figures are extremely positive for Canada and show that the labor market is recovering faster than anticipated.  The recovery in jobs has been mostly in full-time work, with breadth across all industries. The education sector notably added 68,300 jobs for the month.

Women aged 25 to 54 were the main catalyst for the surprising job numbers. This demographic saw their unemployment rate drop to 7% in September, which was the lowest rate among the major demographics, and the closest to pre-covid levels.

It’s very uncertain, however, if this recovery is sustainable. Canada is heavily in the midst of a second wave of Covid-19 and is shattering daily records for new cases. After the delayed data from last weekend came in, it revealed that Canada broke their daily record for new coronavirus cases. On October 25th, Canada for the first time reported over 3,000 new cases. As countries like France and Germany reimpose lockdown measures, some cities in Canada have followed suit and reimposed restrictions. Many businesses have been forced to shutter again in order to slow the spread and curb the outbreak. If these restrictions continue and gradually become more stringent, all the progress made during the current recovery could be all for nothing. It’s possible that even more damage could be done to the labor market if this pace continues.

 

 

Shopify’s Latest Earnings Report Crushes Estimates

Shopify (SHOP) continues to be a Canadian success story.

The Ottawa-based e-commerce platform reported third-quarter earnings results that crushed estimates. This can be largely attributed to the surge in e-commerce demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shopify posted a third-quarter net income of $191.1 million, or $1.54 a share, compared to a net loss of $72.8 billion, or 64 cents a share a year ago. On an adjusted basis, Shopify earned $1.13 a share- easily eclipsing analyst estimates of 52 cents a share. This adjusted figure also surged from last year’s adjusted figure of a 29-cent loss per share.

Shopify’s revenue this quarter also nearly doubled to $767.4 million from $390.6 million. Analysts were expecting revenue to grow to only $663.1 million. Much of the company’s revenue this quarter came from $245.3 million in subscription revenue from new customers joining the platform.  Shopify also made $522.1 million in revenue largely driven by merchant-solutions and growth in gross merchandise volume. Shopify witnessed a $30.9 billion in gross merchandise volume for the quarter, up 109% from last year.

Shopify also attributed much of its third-quarter growth to its new payment option for select merchants. This new payment solution allows consumers to split their payments into installments. According to Shopify’s Q3 earnings release, this “buy-now-pay-later” option has helped merchants “boost sales through increased cart size and higher conversion.”

Just two days ago, Shopify also announced a partnership with hot social media video app TikTok to attract more merchants. Shopify said that the partnership will allow its 1 million+ merchants to sell products in the form of shoppable video ads, where TikTok users can click on an ad to buy the product.

Although Shopify declined to provide any forecasts or projections for the fourth quarter, they have seen shares gain 156% so far this year.

Through its proprietary services, Shopify has revolutionized e-commerce and direct-to-consumer sales. The company offers online retailers a package of services aimed at simplifying the process of running an online store. Shopify provides users with services ranging from payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools.

Here’s Why Eli Lilly & Co. Stock Gapped Lower

Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY) just plummeted to $134 and could be headed to $130 near-term.  All on news it ended a clinical trial of its antibody drug in hospitalized COVID patients after federal researchers said it produced no marked improvementEli Lilly & Co. (LLY) just plummeted to $134 and could be headed to $130 near-term.  All on news it ended a clinical trial of its antibody drug in hospitalized COVID patients after federal researchers said it produced no marked improvementEli Lilly & Co. (LLY) just plummeted to $134 and could be headed to $130 near-term.  All on news it ended a clinical trial of its antibody drug in hospitalized COVID patients after federal researchers said it produced no marked improvementEli Lilly & Co. (LLY) just plummeted to $134 and could be headed to $130 near-term.  All on news it ended a clinical trial of its antibody drug in hospitalized COVID patients after federal researchers said it produced no marked improvement

Here’s Why Microgrid Demand Will Only Increase

Microgrid stocks, like CleanSpark (CLSK) are gaining attention with heat and blackouts hitting California. For one, utilities are realizing they can’t guarantee energy supply to their customers, especially in vulnerable areas. Two, power outages are becoming commonplace with wildfires, storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters across the U.S. Three, as the latest virus pandemic wreaks …Microgrid stocks, like CleanSpark (CLSK) are gaining attention with heat and blackouts hitting California. For one, utilities are realizing they can’t guarantee energy supply to their customers, especially in vulnerable areas. Two, power outages are becoming commonplace with wildfires, storms, earthquakes, and other natural disasters across the U.S. Three, as the latest virus pandemic wreaks …