Canadian CANNAINVESTOR Magazine June 2019 | Page 152

making because factoring them in as part of the current “investment” decision may lead to throwing good money after bad. This Investopedia piece explains succinctly why sunk costs are often irrelevant in the decision making process.

One may find a subdreddit site run by hobbyists who use catchy gimmicks on social media to increase their follower base. One may stumble across a stockboard post with one of the silliest allegories I have come across about this industry but doing so targeting a specific company. What if that subreddit was administered by the person writing the silly allegory? I wrote about this in detail last year but basically the author of the allegory appeared to have a lack of understanding of the accounting rules governing cultivators and by extension one mat presume all that use Accounting rules for biological assets (think big pharma, jewelry [oyster farmers], and of course agriculture).

The problem was that on Seeking Alpha, an unrelated party referenced the subreddit and that stockboard post as valid third-party credible attestation to support their own attack on Licensed Producer Canopy Growth Corporation (TSX:WEED; NYSE:CGC). Not many would even know the author of the allegory targeting one company specifically was also associated with the referenced subreddit. A malign actor that relies on low quality sources from other actors does not equal a quality end product unless one believes that two negatives equals a positive … I would say more like garbage in and garbage out.

As you know, I have always struggled with the comparison, by some, of this industry to the dot-com era. I understand why they do so, including from some top analysts. To summarize their rationale:

A non-existent industry – it may exist at some future time.

The Wild West with respect to claims, hype, etc right down to noble players as well as scoundrels and hucksters pawning their snake oil.

Other Malign actors (black market advocates, the ignorant, powerful interest groups trying to control the narrative to the detriment of the public good, etc).

People hoping to make it big – this is their chance! Money is flowing in and into Canada specifically and the average citizen wants to be a part of it. In other words, when everyone is buying it traditionally meant that it may be time to get out …

Retail investors have few places to turn for valuable reliable consistent content yet there appears to be an oversaturation of those claiming to be such a source (of valuable reliable consistent content).

Companies with no revenues and sky-high valuations.

And so on …

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