Why This "Sea Change" in Cannabis Is Rewarding Investors with a Huge Wealth Opportunity

I'm in a jam of my own making.

Cold water sprints past just below my knees in a stream coursing by within a solid 1-wood of my front porch. I struggle to keep my water-logged Converse sneakers firmly planted on the slick river rocks underfoot.

Meanwhile, a rat's nest of fishing line rests in my hand.

I'm in this pickle because of a clumsy attempt at keeping my fly out of a limb flush with Autumn leaves reaching over the stream's edge. I panicked and jerked my backcast. Now this jumbled ball of frustration stands between me and another afternoon fishing that ends in a "shutout."

There's an easy solution - an easy "out," of course.

I can just cut the line.

But I don't.

Having arrived in this exact same position a thousand times before has taught me that patience and a couple of well-placed tugs will untangle this unruly mess

Instead, I hold the hopelessly tangled bundle in my hand and start gently teasing at the knotted mess.

The knots in my leader yield, and I get back to letting the fish outsmart me.

Patience has its own rewards. And sometimes it even pays.

The years have taught me that, whether through pastimes or my 26-plus-year-long investing career, patience has its place. Wield it well, and you get rewarded.

But I've also learned the hard way to recognize the point when patience must yield to action. And when that point comes, you either make your move or watch as one of those all-too-rare opportunities blows right past you.

Those of you invested in cannabis over the past year and a half have learned a thing or two about frustration - and about patience. But now that patience is paying off: We're witnessing a real "sea change" in cannabis stocks this year.

And this sea change means one thing - the time for patience has given way to action.

You don't want to miss the huge wealth opportunity that's coming directly our way.

Let me show you what I mean. And let me show you how to put this bit of investing insight to good use with cannabis stocks...

Why You Must Act Now

As someone who's been following cannabis stocks - indeed, the whole marijuana landscape - for you folks here at Money Morning for more than two years now, I can tell you in total candor that a sea change is underway in this promising slice of the stock market.

You'll hear the naysayers say otherwise. I get that. But you can't listen. Those naysayers don't get it.

But we do.

The cannabis gloom-and-doomers are waiting for Congress and the White House to act - to clear the way for totally legal cannabis. And they view Washington's failure to do this as a tangled mess of line that makes "fishing" for profits impossible right now.

So, they're cutting their lines and heading home.

That's a mistake.

Indeed, the investors waiting for Washington to take the lead were fishing in a barren stream to start with.

And embracing their "wait and see" approach to cannabis stocks will be the biggest, get-left-behind mistake you can make. The payoff is coming - fast. Now's the time for you to make your first bold move into cannabis stocks.

Because these four key players know that the time for patience has passed...

The Four Catalysts

As I see it, there are four very distinct players providing catalysts for the New Cannabis Boom. They are:

  • The U.S. states.
  • Cannabis entrepreneurs.
  • Cannabis customers.
  • The major financial exchanges.

Let's start with the states.

Legalization has been driven by the citizens of each state ever since California made the first move in 1996. Citizen-driven ballot measures made cannabis legal in state after state. And now, 46 states plus D.C. allow for access to cannabis - putting legal cannabis within reach of 97% of the U.S. population.

Clearly, states no longer wait patiently for the federal government to act. They see the jobs. They see the investment opportunities. They see a badly needed increased tax base. They see the very real positive impact legalized cannabis has on their economies and the benefit it has for citizens. This realization has spurred entrepreneurs the country over to set up shop and take advantage of the boom.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of cannabis ventures established across America.

From small mom-and-pop dispensaries to craft growers to large, multi-state operators (MSOs), entrepreneurs didn't wait patiently for the feds to act. They seized the opportunity to set up shop, and now the customers are pouring in.

Just look at some of the biggest markets for cannabis. Sales in Illinois are up 63% this year. In Florida, 81% more cannabis got sold in August than in January. And in Michigan, sales have surged 212% from December to July.

So, you can see, customers aren't waiting patiently for Congress to act, either. And that massive surge in sales is paying off for investors - in a big way.

For a six-month stretch running through Sept. 18, Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCMKTS: CURLF) and Cresco Labs Inc. (OTCMKTS: CRLBF) are up 170% and 190%, respectively.

Trulieve Cannabis Corp. (OTCMKTS: TCNNF) has rallied 233%, and Green Thumb Industries (OTCMKTS: GTBIF) is up 271%.

Planet 13 Holdings Inc.'s (OTCMKTS: PLNHF) stock, even though it was hampered by having to rely solely on deliveries during the COVID-19 shutdowns, has risen nearly five-fold - from a low of $0.63 to $3.12 - a stunning 395% surge.

This soaring climb in stock prices - and the spike in trading volume that came with it - has spurred yet another key player to conclude that the time for patience has reached its end.

A Strong "Signal"

On Sept. 1, the AdvisorShares Trust Pure U.S. Cannabis ETF (NYSE: MSOS) began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Listing an ETF composed of plant-touching U.S. cannabis stocks signals that exchanges - the fourth key player catalyzing a boom in cannabis stocks - no longer view these stocks as a risk. And, to me, this is a giant leap in the mindset of the fine folks running the exchange.

They're done waiting for Washington to move. So, they took control - and shrewdly so. The fact that a mainstream financial organization like the New York Stock Exchange is making the move shows that, in their view, the rewards massively outweigh any risks.

That's the right view to embrace.

Let me say here that, personally, I'm not a big fan of cannabis ETFs. I believe that the spot we're in now is a "stockpicker's market." You have to identify the "right" opportunities at the right moment to maximize your gains. And simply getting broad exposure to cannabis stocks instead of carefully picking your spots doesn't achieve that end.

Even so, the fact that this major exchange has listed this ETF represents the opening of a new wealth window phase with cannabis stocks.

Before you know it, stocks like Curaleaf and Trulieve - both among my favorite cannabis stocks - will be among the first on the Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. And that will open the floodgates for Big Money Players like Fidelity Investments and Putnam Investments to make their moves.

The Two Cannabis Moves to Make - Now

With exchanges listing U.S. plant-touch cannabis stocks, mutual funds controlling trillions of investment dollars will start snapping up those shares. And major stock indexes will have no choice but to add these companies, opening the door to billions more in additional investor dollars.

And when it comes to cannabis, now is the time to fill your "profits creel."

Let me share two moves you can make right now.

The first is Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (OTCMTKS: CURLF) - which, thanks to a recent buyout deal, is now the biggest cannabis company in the world.

It's also one of my top long-term picks.

It's a chance to cash in on a market leader - at the bargain price of $7.30.

The Wakefield, Mass.-based Curaleaf operates 135 dispensary licenses, 88 operational licenses, 30 processing facilities, and 22 growing sites across America, and serves 350,000 registered patients in 23 states. It had more than $350 million in revenue over the last 12 months. And it's growing that top line at 30% a quarter - an annualized growth rate of 185%.

Curaleaf's buyout of GR Cos. Inc. (better-known as Grassroots), which closed back in July, was a bold move. It vaulted the firm into the No. 1 spot, launching it past well-known cannabis behemoths like Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE: CGC) and Aurora Cannabis Inc. (NYSE: ACB).

It's a stock you want to buy and hold onto for the next few years - even adding to your stake on pullbacks.

I love this stock.

Then there's my favorite "private market" play...

"Ground-Floor" Wealth

As great an opportunity as stocks offer, private-equity investments are even better - offering returns that can be 10, 20, or even 30 times greater than stocks. You're actually getting in on the ground floor of a new company - and you profit with other "insiders" when that venture goes public or is bought out by a deep-pocketed suitor.

My other top pick right now is just such a venture. It's a privately held startup that's working to bring 27 cannabis-based therapies to market.

And it's a company I know very well, since I've been working with the management team for more than 10 months as they get their innovations up and running.

It's a great story.

And it's one I'm going to tell you here...

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About the Author

Don Yocham is Executive Director for the National Institute of Cannabis Investors (The Institute) and Director of Cannabis Investing Research for Money Map Press. Before starting his role with the Institute, he was the Head of Private Deals for the publication Cannabis Venture Syndicate. From his first foray into the trading pits of Chicago to introducing institutional investors to entirely new markets in the early 2000s, Don has pretty much covered the entire field of investing in his 25-year career. In the depths of the financial crisis, when the typical investor had lost more than half of their money, his portfolios were up.

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