All pot stocks aren’t Tilray — and that’s a good thing, says CEO of rival Canopy Growth

‘I think it got technically weird.’

Investors shouldn’t let pot stock Tilray Inc.’s TLRY, -30.25% wild trading week turn them off from the marijuana sector, rival cannabis concern Canopy Growth Corp. CGC, -5.00%   CEO Bruce Linton said on CNBC Friday.

The fledgling sector is much more stable than Tilray’s headlines would imply, Linton insists, after Nasdaq had to halt Tilray trading five times during Wednesday’s session.

There are about 76.5 million Tilray shares outstanding, but the float — those shares actually available for trading — is just 17.8 million, according to FactSet, which invites added volatility. This means Tilray is not the sector proxy that Wall Street makes it out to be, Linton argued.

Shares of Canadian marijuana companies went through the roof this week after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration approved Tilray’s plan to import a medical cannabis product. Tilray, the first post stock to go public on Nasdaq, surged nearly 30% just in reaction to the regulatory hurdle. Yet it closed down 30% Friday to cap the wild week.

So far though, Tilray’s news largely becomes this young sector’s news, prompting a cannabis stock obsession. The company’s shares are up over 215% in the past month, according to FactSet data.

“I suspect [Tilray trading] will return to normal. They’re a nice business. They have a nice start,” Linton said in the interview.

Canopy’s shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trade “relatively normal,” he said. The stock fell 5% Friday; it’s up 110% so far in 2018 and roughly 487% over the past year.

It’s an expanding sector, from which there’s likely to be no shortage of market-moving developments courtesy of Tilray or its rivals. In addition to Canopy and Tilray, the publicly traded corner of the sector includes Aurora Cannabis Inc. ACB, -3.35% and Cronos Group CRON, -9.02% Aleafia Health Inc. stock ALEF, +18.32%   surged 18% on Friday, after announcing that it has been added to the Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences exchange-traded fund HMMJ, -3.89%   .

Even liquor concerns Molson Coors Brewing Co. TAP, -0.22% and Diageo DEO, +0.28%   are ramping up interest through partnerships. And there is market speculation that Coca-Cola Co. KO, -0.13%  is interested in Denver’s New Age Beverages, which makes cannabidiol, or CBD, drinks like one called “Mellow Mood.”