After Scotts Miracle-Gro (NYSE: SMG) bought a hydroponic company, its stock price rose, and JP Morgan thinks it should be higher, according to an Aug. 4, 2016, article by CNN.
The hydroponic company, General Hydroponics, makes liquids that can be used to grow marijuana indoors.
Jeffrey Zekauskas of JP Morgan said his firm’s target price for Scotts Miracle-Gro has risen from $70 per share to $85.
Shortly after the purchase of General Hydroponics and JP Morgan’s new target price, the Scotts Miracle-Gro stock price hit a record high of $80.14, CNN reported. The stock price inched higher during the morning of Aug. 5, 2016, briefly hitting $80.22.
Scotts Miracle-Gro’s stock price was up 23 percent year-to-date on Aug. 4, 2016.
“The hydroponics market taps into marijuana demand and the company now has a growth option that we think an investor is able to capture for about the price of the traditional business,” Zekauskas said.
Scotts Miracle-Gro CEO Jim Hagedorn recently said his company is completing another “significant acquisition in the hydroponics space.”
Traditional businesses are responding to the legalization of both medical and recreational marijuana in various states. Legal marijuana sales hit $1.2 billion in 2015, tripling the 2014 sales figures, CNN reported.