Investing

Cramer: Buy pot stock Canopy Growth despite the firing of founder and co-CEO Bruce Linton

Key Points
  • Now is the time to be buying shares of Canopy Growth, not selling, CNBC's Jim Cramer says.
  • Shares of the pot company are falling after Bruce Linton was fired as co-CEO.
  • Cramer says Linton helped advance the company, but the next CEO will push it even further.
Cramer: Constellation Brands was very unhappy with Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton
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Cramer: Constellation Brands was very unhappy with Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Wednesday that investors should be buying, not selling, Canopy Growth's stock following the firing of co-CEO Bruce Linton.

Linton told CNBC earlier Wednesday that he was "terminated" from the Canadian pot company that he founded six years ago. Shares of Canopy — up about 50% year to date — were dropping about 4% in early trading.

"I have no idea why people are selling it," Cramer said of the world's largest publicly traded cannabis company by market value. "That's crazy."

Linton's ousting comes after November's $4 billion investment from spirits giant Constellation Brands, which gave Constellation about a 35% stake in the cannabis company. A condition of the deal was a board reconfiguration, Linton said.

"Constellation was very unhappy with Bruce," Cramer said on "Squawk Box." "The numbers weren't there."

Canopy last month reported a wider-than-expected loss for its fiscal fourth quarter, accounting for a 20-cent drag on Corona maker Constellation's own earnings.

Linton helped get Canopy to the place it is now, Cramer said. But the new CEO, who has yet to be named, will help lead the company in a new direction.

"Bruce did get $4 billion from Constellation. He was having a great time, and he did raise all of this money," Cramer said later on "Squawk on the Street." "You've got to hand it to him."

Constellation did not respond to a request for comment on Cramer's remarks.

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