As the kiddies get ready for Halloween trick-or-treating, one treat that investors might have on their mind right now is psychedelic stocks.
After a very quiet summer, the sector has come alive again. The catalyst for this fall rally has been the IPO of new industry leader Compass Pathways (US:CMPS).
While pretty much all psychedelic stocks were rising on initial investor euphoria, performance has started to diverge in the past couple of weeks. Here is a look at the currently best-performing psychedelics stocks.
1) MindMed Inc (CAN:MMED / US:MMEDF / GER:MMQ)
MindMed stock was practically in hibernation mode over the summer. Flat share price. Very anemic trading volume. All that changed with the Compass Pathways IPO.
After closing at CAD$0.44 on September 17th, MMED has exactly tripled (+200%) ending last week at CAD$1.32. Equally impressive is the sharp rise in volume.
MindMed is the research leader among publicly trading psychedelics companies with the broadest portfolio of psychedelic drug initiatives at the clinical trials stage.
With an application to up-list on the NASDAQ and a much smaller market cap than Compass (CAD$376 million to US$1.34 billion), the stock likely has more room to run.
2) Mind Cure Health (CAN:MCUR / US:MCURF)
Mind Cure has actually outperformed MindMed in pure percentage terms since its own IPO on September 21st.
From its initial trading price of CAD$0.20, MCUR has traded as CAD$0.90. At CAD$0.74, it has generated a 270% gain for its initial shareholders. However, the stock has remained in a trading range over the past several weeks – thus the nod to MindMed as (currently) the best-performing psychedelic stock.
Mind Cure is a psychedelic drug/nootropics hybrid. Its Moonbeam line of organic functional mushrooms already has its Health Canada NPNs to commence retailing.
The Company has recently added several high-profile experts in psychedelic medicine as Science Advisors. And it recently announced the acquisition of a digital therapeutics platform for mental health treatment as it builds out is business model.
3) Numinus Wellness (CAN:NUMI / US:LKYSF)
Numinus had its own spectacular IPO – back in May. NUMI shot up as high as $1.55 on its initial trading day. But this was just as momentum was cooling off in the psychedelics space.
The stock gave back those initial gains and the day before the Compass Pathways IPO it closed at CAD$0.225. It ended last week at CAD$0.425, boosted by news that Numinus had completed its first psilocybin harvest.
This vertically integrated psychedelics companies is also one of the only public companies in Canada licensed to conduct research on psilocybin.
NUMI has the smallest percentage gain among our best-performing stocks (‘only’ +88% since the Compass IPO), but it has performed the best among all psychedelic stocks over the past week.
4) Compass Pathways (US:CMPS)
It’s somewhat ironic that the stock that started the recent party in psychedelics is not the best performer (+126%) over that period. But this is often the case with a bellwether.
They don’t necessarily rank at the top in overall performance. But they tend to be stronger during downturns and then also lead the way higher in any new rally.
Compass Pathways has the best-positioned individual R&D program with its Phase 2 clinical trial of a psilocybin-based therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Breakthrough Therapy Designation from the FDA means it will likely be first to get a (new) psychedelic drug through the drug approval process.
After soaring as $47.30 in its first week of trading, CMPS has given back much of those gains. However, the stock had a strong rebound on Friday (+12.25%), on one of its strongest days for trading volume.
Going forward
Just because these have been the best-performing psychedelic stocks in recent weeks doesn’t mean that these four companies will continue to lead the way.
However, all have investment drivers that will be of interest to psychedelics investors. From the first industry unicorn (CMPS) down to a CAD$34 million microcap, investors have a fairly diverse list of companies from which they can choose.
As the Mental Health Crisis continues to drive media attention and investor capital toward the psychedelic drug industry, these four companies would make a very prospective basket of stocks from which investors can begin their investing in psychedelics.
DISCLOSURE: The writer holds shares of MindMed Inc, Numinus Wellness and Mind Cure Health. Mind Cure Health is a client of Psychedelic Stock Watch.