Shoppers taps blockchain

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $67.24 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 369.1 million; Market cap: $24.5 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 1.9%; www.loblaw.ca) feels its Shoppers Drug Mart stores give it a strong platform to profit from the legalization of cannabis. Shoppers is now teaming up with California-based software developer TruTrace Technologies. It will use TruTrace’s blockchain technology to identify, track and verify the source of its cannabis-based drugs. Blockchain is essentially a decentralized database that records transactions and tracks asset movement. The software should make it easier for doctors to prescribe the correct cannabis strains to their patients. That should help convince more doctors and patients to consider cannabis-based treatments instead of regular drugs. Loblaw Companies is a buy. buy…