Buzz on the Bullboards: Stocks making headlines

It can be hard to know when to make a move when every day looks crazier than the last. Traders don’t not know what to expect coming in tomorrow’s news cycle … but you can bet the markets are going to be volatile day-to-day.

This has been the case in market activity throughout the autumn season so far, from highs and lows to the current wars in Israel and Ukraine, the month of October doesn’t seem to be letting up with its surprises any time soon.

That means market intensity makes for intense discussions on the Bullboards stocks discussion forum, where numerous sectors have seen new companies appear and returning businesses continue to generate a lot of discussion.

With emotional investments come emotional reactions, but with dropping temperatures, we also found plenty of cooler heads making their cases.

Small-cap investors are always on the lookout for the most current and hottest plays to capitalize on these uncertain times in the markets, while other plays that have a longer-term on gains, see less interest than they might have had in years’ past. Who came out on top this week? Who is new to the conversation? Who is ready to take their gains even further? Let’s take a dive in and find out.

We first look at cannabis and consumer packaged goods company Canopy Growth Corp. (TSX:WEED, Forum), whose cultivation facility in Kincardine, Ontario, has achieved Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification in the European Union.

GMP is a widely adopted system to ensure the safety and consistency of pharmaceutical production.

The certification – issued by RP Tuebingen, Regional Health Inspectorate of Baden-Wuerttemberg – allows Canopy to continue exporting cannabis to medical markets in Europe and around the world, as well as position itself to capitalize on new markets upon legalization. The company’s medical cannabis brands are currently available in Germany, the Czech Republic and Poland, in addition to Asia-Pacific markets including Australia and New Zealand.

Canopy has now consolidated its production down to two purpose-built sites, including its post-production facility in Smiths Falls, Ontario, as part of its ongoing restructuring efforts.

“The receipt of EU GMP certification for our Kincardine facility is a significant milestone for Canopy Growth as we complete the transformation of our business and position it for long-term growth and market leadership,” David Klein, Canopy’s CEO, said in a statement. “Today’s announcement further demonstrates our team’s proven ability to evolve our business and positions us to continue serving medical cannabis customers in Europe and around the world with high-quality flower.”

Meanwhile in the tech marketplace, Fobi AI Inc. (TSXV:FOBI, Forum) has signed a three-year contract with one of the largest membership organizations in Europe.

Under the agreement, Fobi will provide several digital services, including digital membership and client communications for up to 20 million of the organization’s members.

The artificial intelligence (AI) firm expects to generate C$1.1 million in revenue, with a 90 per cent profit margin. The revenue sources will include onboarding and setup fees, along with monthly fees for active membership passes. The company calculated this projected revenue including a setup fee of C$58,000 and recurring monthly fees from 10 million active users a month over a 36-month period.

The European organization aims to enhance its members’ experiences by leveraging Fobi AI’s technology, such as its wallet pass platform, Passcreator, which can enable the organization to create and distribute digital membership IDs directly through the mobile wallet. This would eliminate the complexities of traditional plastic cards, such as the cost of production, fraud, and risk of loss.

“This three-year deal not only highlights the trust and confidence our enterprise clients have in our innovative solutions but also helps solidify Fobi’s position as a leading global wallet provider,” Fobi’s CEO, Rob Anson, said in a news release. “We are very honoured to work as closely as we are with one of Europe’s largest membership organizations to deliver exceptional digital experiences to their member base.”

Finally, E3 Lithium Ltd. (TSXV:ETL, Forum) is in the green this week after completing more production tests at its direct lithium extraction field pilot plant in Alberta with positive results.

The company intends to produce lithium concentrate for downstream processing of battery-grade lithium hydroxide monohydrate, a key component in alkaline battery manufacturing.

The additional tests trialed numerous operating parameters to optimize for an extended operating period. Preliminary internal analysis and results include:

• Initial lithium recovery of more than 94 per cent
• Concentrate purity of more than 80 per cent
• Average lithium grade in concentrate of 916.6 mg/L

The results indicate that E3 can decrease the cycle time, which is the amount of time the sorbent is exposed to the brine during direct lithium extraction. This modification may reduce the commercial plant’s capital and operating costs.

The company will use the test results and learnings from the past six weeks of pilot operations to set the conditions for an extended operating period, which is expected to begin next week.

Upon completion of the extended operating period, E3 will be able to proceed with its planned pre-feasibility and definitive feasibility studies on the road to building its first commercial facility.

“We are thrilled to be able to provide further updates on the operations of the field pilot plant,” Chris Doornbos, president and CEO of E3 Lithium, said in a statement. “The plan we put in place to test various operating parameters has proved to be effective thus far. Not only have positive results been produced under several operating conditions, we have also grown our confidence to design the most efficient processes to commercialize our vast resource.”

After a shortened week on account of the long weekend, next week should bring a return to normalcy. Unfortunately, with new twists affecting the markets left, right and centre, something will always come up that throws a wrench in things. The best place to make sense of it, and to see who’s making money, is diving into the Bullboards.

For previous editions of Buzz on the Bullboards: click here.

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