Where the Next Big Money in Cannabis Will Be Made

Matthew Carr|April 16, 2021

Editor’s Note: Our good friend Matthew Carr – Chief Trends Strategist at The Oxford Club – was one of the first to start covering the cannabis industry in depth. He even called Canada’s legalization a full year in advance.

Now he’s revealing a new, never-before-seen prediction for the U.S. cannabis industry. In his FREE online event, he’ll show you how to profit from the biggest asset boom of the decade… and tell you all about his No. 1 cannabis value stock to buy!

It’s called America’s Legalization Summit… and it goes live on Tuesday, April 27, at 8 p.m. ET.

Click here to reserve your spot. And check out his thoughts below on where the industry is headed next.

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Sometimes, a market grows much faster than you expect. And that’s just what’s happening with cannabis.

While global cannabis sales surged 48% to $21 billion last year… most of those sales came from the U.S.

In fact, Colorado alone – the most mature legal cannabis market in the country – accounted for $1 of every $10 spent globally on cannabis.

And California, the single largest legal cannabis market in the world, saw sales boom 57%. It hauled in more than $4.4 billion in 2020.

The U.S. cannabis market is now projected to skyrocket and top $41 billion by 2025. That’s more than double its current revenue. And Ben Klover, CEO of American multistate operator (MSO) Green Thumb Industries (OTC: GTBIF), believes the U.S. market could be worth $100 billion by 2030.

That means there’s still plenty of big money to be made in the U.S. cannabis market. But as the pace of legalization speeds up here in the U.S., investors should also look to where the market’s headed next.

O Canada

When I first started covering cannabis, my focus was on Canadian licensed producers.

Canada was about to make cannabis legal at the national level. And that was setting up handsome domestic and international opportunities for companies like Aphria (Nasdaq: APHA), Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB), Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC), Cronos Group (Nasdaq: CRON), Hexo Corp. (NYSE: HEXO) and OrganiGram Holdings (Nasdaq: OGI).

(At the time, those companies still traded over the counter. In such a young market, they weren’t eligible to uplist to major U.S. exchanges such as the Nasdaq or New York Stock Exchange.)

These were the glory years for Canadian producers, when the Canadian Marijuana Index skyrocketed in value.

On top of that, with backing from the federal government, Canadian licensed producers rapidly emerged as the main international cannabis players. They snatched up assets all over the world and started signing deals to export products across the globe.

But after Canada’s federal legalization in 2018, I set my sights on the next big market: the U.S.

There was a sea change underway, and American MSOs looked exceptionally well-priced. Especially in light of the projected size of the U.S. cannabis market.

My timing was good… starting in mid-2019, the Canadian Marijuana Index faltered and has since failed to recover. It’s trading for less than half of what it was in 2018 and less than a third of its peak in late 2017 and early 2018.

On the other hand, American MSOs are setting new all-time highs.

After bottoming out in March 2020, the U.S. Marijuana Index has catapulted higher.

And there’s a good reason for this…

American cannabis companies are standouts in the industry.

In the first quarter of 2020, Green Thumb Industries became the first cannabis company to report more than $100 million in revenue.

Curaleaf Holdings (OTC: CURLF) was the first cannabis company to report more than $200 million in quarterly revenue. It will also be the first cannabis company to report more than $1 billion in annual revenue in 2021.

And Trulieve Cannabis (OTC: TCNNF) and Cresco Labs (OTC: CRLBF) will each report more than $800 million in revenue this year.

But some major news by Curaleaf last month shows where the NEXT big opportunity will be…

The Next Frontier in Cannabis

Curaleaf is the largest cannabis company in the U.S. It operates more than 100 dispensaries across 23 states. And its $11 billion market cap is almost equal to those of the next two largest competitors combined.

But the MSO is looking ahead…

It announced it was acquiring Emmac Life Sciences for $286 million.

The company is the largest cannabis operator in Europe. It has a presence in booming markets such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal and Spain. And it plans to be able to produce 10 tons of cannabis per year by 2022.

These are key opportunities for Emmac and Curaleaf. Germany is the largest cannabis market in Europe – and will likely be the first to legalize adult-use, as early as this year. And the U.K. is the largest cannabis producer and exporter in Europe.

Now, at the moment, Europe allows for medical cannabis use only. But 2021 could be the year we see a change. As it now stands, the European cannabis market is projected to be worth $37 billion by 2027. That’s a 957% increase from the $3.5 billion it collected in 2019.

And here’s why I’m most excited by the opportunity…

The total European cannabis market is expected to be worth $120 billion. And the region is home to more than 784 million people, more than twice the population of the U.S.

The Emmac acquisition gives Curaleaf a foothold in Europe. And it signals that Curaleaf isn’t content with just being the largest cannabis company in the U.S.

Rather, it is a force to be reckoned with on a global scale.

It also marks the first significant overseas acquisition by a major American MSO, signaling that U.S. companies are throwing their hat in the ring with Canadian licensed producers.

The U.S. cannabis market is booming and presents the largest opportunity for investors… for now. But the rest of the world, especially Europe, could be an even larger opportunity. It’s a market all cannabis investors should start building stakes in now.

P.S. I’ll be talking about the U.S. cannabis industry even more in depth on Tuesday, April 27. It’s a free virtual event, so be sure to reserve your spot. Click here now.