5 U.S. Cannabis Stock Markets to Invest in This Year

  While we’ve previously written that Aurora Cannabis, Village Farms International, and GrowGeneration (two of which Canadian) may be well worth your bid, we now first want to focus your attention on Green Thumb Industries and Trulieve. The first has seen exceptional revenue growths during the bumpy 2020, and the second has dominated the market in Florida.

Green Thumb Industries

Based in Illinois, the state which has ended the year with news that it’s purging nearly half a million cannabis records from its database, Green Thumb had emerged as one of the big winners last year. Green Thumb Industries saw triple-digit revenue growth in 2020, gaining on the markets of ten states where present with almost 50 retail shops, according to The Motley Fool.  With its Rise and Essence store chains, offering medical and recreational pot products under the brands of Dogwalkers, Rhythm, and Dr. Solomon’s, Green Thumb has made a little fortune for itself. Its revenue growth peaked at an astonishing 131% year over year spike, amassing $157 million in the second quarter. So as the clock struck midnight on the 31st of December, Green Thumb management and employees had all the reason to pop the champagne. Their stocks remained super high for most of the year, driven by the increased growth of its consumed package goods and retail segments. Green Thumb has been focused on its home state Illinois where it runs eight of its stores with prospects to open two more. It’s a great advantage that the firm has concentrated on the Illinois market. The business has thrived in the state since it’s a fresh market, having only recently legalized recreational cannabis. This also proves to be an ideal setting for proceeding with expanding operations. In 2020, Green Thumb largely profited from selling cannabis derivatives such as infused edibles, cannabis drinks, vapes, topicals, and concentrates. Two-thirds of its revenue came from selling these types of products. Its increased revenue has ensured Green Thumb now has enough to pay off old debts, while its domination of the home state market puts the company in a favorable position for steady growth. Right now, nothing seems can shake running a cannabis business in a state such as Illinois, so investing in one of the state’s most prominent stocks in 2021 is a step in the right direction.

Trulieve

Based in Florida, Trulieve appears to be another big winner of the tumultuous 2020 and readily one of the cannabis stock markets to invest in 2021.  Describing itself as “a vertically integrated ‘seed-to-sale’ company” and “the first and largest fully licensed medical cannabis company in the State of Florida,” Trulieve has used the third quarter of last year to open nine new stores. In December, it opened its first dispensaries in Davenport and Clermont, and it now owns almost 70 dispensaries statewide. Aside from Florida, Trulieve is present in five other states, while the huge demand for their products instills certainty the firm’s growth appetite is justified over the next 12 months. Trulieve has played really well since the start of the pandemic and has now captured more than 50% of the smokable cannabis market share in the Sunshine State, the third most populous state in the U.S. It has managed to do so by focusing on the market's medical segment and timely investing itself, and expanding into the cannabis derivatives market. It has first offered derivatives such as vapes, edibles, beverages, and topicals, and has later, during the third quarter, stepped in with a range of infused edibles products such as cookies, brownies, and chocolates. According to Motley Fool, this has helped Trulieve end up the third quarter with cash and cash equivalents of over $193 million. When the state of Florida moves on to put a recreational marijuana proposal on the 2022 ballot, Trulieve’s revenue growth will almost certainly skyrocket again as the customer base will exponentially expand. As The Motley Fool’s Sushree Mohanty further notes, “strong fundamentals, outstanding revenue growth, profitable, stable balance sheets, and exciting growth strategies makes both these [Green Thumb and Trulieve] sure choices for the new year.” An upcoming federal legalization will only cement the dominating status of Green Thumb and Trulieve in their domestic markets in Illinois and Florida.

Three more highly profitable cannabis stock markets

Beyond Green Thumb and Trulieve, investors looking for cannabis stock markets to invest in 2021 should also follow Curaleaf Holdings, Planet 13 Holdings, and Innovative Industrial Properties, just to mention some. Curaleaf Holdings is the major competitor of Trulieve in Florida, nevertheless, its dispensaries can be found in 22 other states while their headquarters remain in Massachusetts. It’s projected as the pot stock with the best chances first to hit $1 billion in annual sales. Besides, if there be a big winner once New Jersey finally proceeds to legalize recreational marijuana, the odds are again in favor of Curaleaf. Planet 13 on the other hand does something entirely different. It profits from the experience it sells to its customers in its bigger-than-Walmart Las Vegas location. And, it profits well. With a vibrant, multifaceted space that functions both as a dispensary and as an entertainment venue, Planet 13 is designed for consumers to spend spend spend. It's quickly become a must-see place for cannabis enthusiasts and tourists. In 2021, it's expanding with a second location in Santa Ana, California, close enough to Disneyland. Last but not least, Innovative Industrial Properties is the most profitable pure-play pot stock on a per-share basis. Based in San Diego, this is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on cannabis. Innovative Industrial Properties acquires assets for medical cannabis cultivation and processing and leases them out to others for periods of up to 20 years. Needless to say, the company has reaped the benefits of its rental income. So, should you be looking for stock markets to invest in 2021, there’s quite a handful of them. As the industry is growing more robust, more opportunities will undoubtedly come their way.