Leafly Holdings Inc. shares rose 2.6% in premarket trades Friday after the company drew an outperform rating and a $12 price target as Cowen analysts Harrison Vivas and Vivien Azer initiated coverage of the online cannabis marketplace. Leafly currently counts 8% more paid retailers than its rival company Weedmaps, which is run by WM Technology Inc. , analysts noted. Leafly’s paid retailers on its network increased by 36% to 5,400 as of March 31, compared to Weedmaps count of 5,000 paid retailers, up 26% as of the same time period. Leafly’s average revenue per account figures should get a boost from new adult use markets opening up in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Virginia, analysts said. Shares of Leafly are down 2.4% in 2022, compared to a drop of 45.6% by the AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF . Leafly went public in February by closing its merger with the special purpose acquisition company Merida Merger Corp. I.

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