Five things to watch for in the Canadian business world in the coming week:

Pot earnings

Cannabis producers Aurora Cannabis, Canopy Growth, Tilray and Chronos will report their final pre-legalization financial results next week. The rollout of legal pot has been uneven across the country, with significant supply and delivery problems reported in Ontario and Quebec.

TransCanada talk

TransCanada Corp. will host its annual investor day in Tuesday. The company said on Friday it remains committed to the Keystone XL crude pipeline project despite a Montana judge’s ruling that it must pass a further environmental review.

When most investors think about marijuana stocks, one like Canopy Growth Corporation (NYSE:CGC) probably comes to mind. The company cultivates and produces cannabis products, including flower and oils. But while The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (NYSE:SMG) is still best known for its consumer lawn and garden products, it too has become a marijuana stock by emerging as the leading supplier to the U.S. cannabis industry. There's no contest between these two stocks when it comes to year-to-date performance. Canopy Growth is up close to 80%. Scotts is down more than 25%. But which of these stocks is the better choice for long-term investors?

One of John Lem’s first hints that the technology behind his DNA testing company Spartan Bioscience could be a hit with cannabis users came years ago when an executive asked him if genetics could have caused a bad reaction to pot. The question intrigued Lem so much that he eventually applied Spartan’s technology to a new Toronto-based venture called Lobo Genetics. Through Lobo, he created a genetic testing device that fits in the palm of a hand and uses cells obtained through a cheek swab to measure a person’s ability to metabolize THC — the main psychoactive component in cannabis — and determine someone’s predisposition to short- and long-term side effects.

Scotiabank began coverage on shares of Aphria (OTCMKTS:APHQF) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, October 17th. The brokerage issued a buy rating on the stock. Separately, Cann initiated coverage on shares of Aphria in a report on Friday, October 12th. They set a sell rating and a $19.00 price target for the company.

Shares of OTCMKTS:APHQF traded down $0.30 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $12.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,299,881 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,530,405. Aphria has a fifty-two week low of $5.86 and a fifty-two week high of $19.87.

For those who only recently started watching the cannabis space, the complexities involving the Namaste Technologies Inc (OTCMKTS:NXTTF) story are daunting to say the least. The main point to appreciate is that this is a former momentum play with tremendous potential, some genuine risk on the credibility side, and a ton of built-in skepticism.

For the Mohawk territory of Kahnawake, cannabis legalization is an opportunity to correct the mistakes of the past regarding tobacco.

Smoke shacks selling tax-free cigarettes are pervasive in the community across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal, and their owners have no obligation to give money back to citizens, says Joe Delaronde, spokesman for the Mohawk Council.

The federal government was part of the problem, he explained, “giving tobacco licences willy-nilly.”

“People became very frustrated with that over time,” Delaronde added. “And even though some people gave back — some just pocketed (all the revenue).”

But while lucrative tobacco shops abound in Kahnawake, selling, distributing or manufacturing cannabis on the territory remains illegal.

High quality branding is a powerful thing. The look, feel and associations that a company uses to support its product can be every bit as important as the product itself in determining its success or failure. Marketers have spent decades perfecting the social sciences used to make the world’s most iconic brands successful.

A new product category is emerging in the form of Canada’s legal adult-use recreational cannabis market. Thousands of cannabis companies across the country have invested millions into building what will become the best known brands in the cannabis space.

Canopy Growth Corp., one of the world’s biggest medical cannabis companies, is planning a major investment in Europe.

The marijuana grower will spend more than 100 million euros ($115 million) to expand production in the EU over the next two years, according to Pierre Debs, managing director at Canopy’s Spectrum Cannabis Europe division. The weed giant -- valued at about $9.8 billion -- is planning to build two new production facilities to grow hundreds of kilos of cannabis for use in treatment.

Steam Whistle Brewing Inc., maker of the popular green-bottled pilsner lager distributed across the country, is pivoting to cannabis.

Andy Burgess, president of the craft brewery, told BNN Bloomberg he is engaged in active discussions with several cannabis producers for a possible investment or joint venture with the company.

"This is about reinforcing the brand and how to build shareholder value for the long term," he said in an interview this week.

Discussions have included the possibility of producing cannabis-infused beverages and launching a Steam Whistle brand of cannabis, he added.

"The bottom line is that our brand and the building, our distribution, and the popularity of our beer is of interest to the cannabis space."

Aphria Inc. ("Aphria" or the "Company") (TSX: APHA and NYSE:APHA) today announced its proposed acquisition of CC Pharma GmbH ("CC Pharma"), a leading distributor of pharmaceutical products to more than 13,000 pharmacies in Germany. The transaction, when closed, will strengthen the Company's end-to-end medical cannabis operations and infrastructure in Germany, a key market in Aphria's international expansion. It is anticipated that the transaction will close in January 2019.