In terms of an endorsement it was pretty lukewarm.
Mackie Research reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation on Lift & Co. Corp (CVE:LIFT), the cannabis-focused events, advertising and data company. But in doing so it slashed its target price for the stock to 30 cents a share from 80 cents.
Not just that, it admitted “investor sentiment towards cannabis related stocks and tax loss selling is unlikely to help valuation in the near term”.
After losing around 70% of its worth in the last year (and 84% from its peak in February), the current valuation represents a “very low bar”, a research note issued earlier Monday conceded.
Mackie estimates the Lift events business is worth a punchy 20 cents a share based on peer group analysis.
Larger and substantially more well-established rivals Emerald and Informa trade at around 3.5-times and 4.5-times trailing sales, the research house pointed out.
The rump of Lift is worth a further 8 cents, again based on competitor bench-marking that suggests a 3-4-times forward revenue multiple should be applied.
Asking readers to look past the woeful recent stock performance, Mackie said: “We believe Lift has created a valuable niche for itself in the cannabis sector, which is well regarded by licensed producers, retailers, and end consumers as evidenced at the recent CCA event in Toronto, which we attended.”
The shares, which topped out at 66 cents in February, were changing hands for 10 cents.