In this episode we are joined by a special guest and friend of ours, Alex Gastevich. Alex's family office (VGI Investments) has deep experience investing in cannabis since their first investment in GTI in 2014. He joins us to discuss how he and his family think about picking a winner in the cannabis space.

In this episode:

- How VGI first invested in the cannabis space in 2014

- How do you define a "winner"?

- The importance of long term thinking and "intangible fit" 

- Private investments in cannabis - how does decision making differ?

- Private MSO Ascend Wellness (AWH) and how we decided to invest

- Understanding the fundamentals of a limited license market to pick a winner

- How to become a better investor in this space

- Why the Verano IPO will be one of the hottest in the space and why you should pay attention

- Valuation - why it matters and how to think about it

- Trading vs Investing with WeedMaps, Verano and SOL as examples

- The importance of having an investing network and discussing opportunities from many viewpoints

Thanks to Alex for joining us and sharing some great insights, you can connect with him below:

VGI Family Office - https://www.vginvests.com/

Alex on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexander-gastevich-088a6043/ 

Back by popular demand we have Alan Brochstein joining us! Alan is known across the industry as "the leading cannabis analyst" and joins us today to share his insight on why he is so bullish on the future of the Cannabis industry. "The Maven" knows this industry and its players inside and out and his 420investor service (https://marketfy.com/product/420investor/) is our favourite resource for making money in cannabis investing, especially in this bull market.

In this episode we discuss:

- Post-Election thinking and the Cannabis Bull Market 

- 4 Reasons why Alan is so bullish on cannabis (the 4 legs of the stool)

- Technicals, Fundamentals, Valuation and Sentiment - which of these points to future upside?

- Names that AB has liked this year and what he likes going forward

- Why investing is "not a beauty contest" and what that means

- How to invest in cannabis if you're afraid of a market pullback

- Why Alan thinks cannabis investors shouldn't ignore Canada

- How California is turning a corner and why The Parent Company could be interesting

- IPOs & New Companies: Verano, The Parent Company, WeedMaps and more

- Shifting from the Big 4 to the Big 10-15 MSOs - what will this mean for the market?

- Revisiting the MSOS ETF and how it is a "game changer"

- AB's big prediction for 2021 and what he's the most excited about

Thank you to Alan for coming on and sharing his valuable insights.

If you enjoyed this episode and want more of Alan's insights and picks, we highly recommend you look into a subscription for 420i @ https://marketfy.com/product/420investor/ 

We also suggest you sign up for AB's free weekly newsletter @ https://www.newcannabisventures.com/subscribe/

The balance sheet might not be the most reflective of how well a company is doing. 

 Today we are joined by an incredibly special guest, Patrick Smith, a special situations analyst from Bay St.  

Patrick shares with us some great insights and tips on how to quickly analyze financial statements and why the Income Statement and Statement of Cash Flows are a better gauge of where the company is headed.  Patrick put together a comprehensive powerpoint to follow him during this episode.

Please click here for 4 Front financial statements

Please see our Google Drive here for the PowerPoint (and other episode files): 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/180DITZc5unsNnc-beUP8eOlHH_ANPq51?usp=sharing 

Please note we recorded this episode early Tues morning and the cannabis markets has turned ugly by close Tues night.

Which is the important theme of this episode - as hype and speculation return in force to the cannabis industry investors need to be careful and be fearful when others are being greedy.

In this episode:

- What the hell is going on?

- Explaining wild price action over the last few days

- Rally of the "others" not the big 4 MSOs

- ACB as a proxy for the wildness of this market and unsustainability

- How to protect yourself while taking advantage of the "risk on" mindset

In this episode we are joined by special guest Nick Gastevich. You may have seen Nick posting online under the name CannaVestments where he regularly shares financial analysis and commentary about US Cannabis companies. 

Nick has deep insight into the large MSOs and through his family office invested in GTI and Cresco as private companies.  

In this episode we cover Curaleaf, Trulieve, GTI & Cresco's Q3 results and for each company we discuss:

1. Top Line metrics and Growth 

2. Gross Margin and adjusted EBITDA

3. Cash Flow & Capital Expenditures

4. Footprint analysis - which states are driving revenue and profitability?

5. Future growth - which states represent the most future upside?

6. Valuation - what multiple does the company trade at? Do we view it as cheap or expensive?

This is an action packed episode - many thanks to Nick for joining us and sharing his insights

Please note: we had a technical issue and one of our mics somehow had the "witness protection" filter put on. 

In this episode we discuss how cannabis investors should weigh the potential risks associated with COVID and the broader markets

- Vaccine Optimism is pushing markets higher - is too much optimism priced in?

- Vaccine is much welcome news and provides a light at the end of the tunnel 

- However many risks remain as we head into a prolonged "dark winter"

- Lack of fiscal stimulus, lack of US federal COVID response and why a delayed transition is particularly bad this year

- Risk feels mispriced - from bonds to commercial real estate this remains a real overhang

- So what? Cannabis is performing very well but is not immune to broader markets

- Lack of stimulus hurts consumers; market correction will hurt weed stocks

- How do we plan around this? What measures can we take?

- Portfolio and cash management over 2021

- Discussion of MediPharm Lab's BRUTAL Q3 and a longer term outlook

- Thinking about B2B for Village Farms and Cresco Labs

In this episode we digest the results of the US election and discuss why we are bullish on the future of US cannabis

In this episode we discuss:

- Why investors should be careful with this "sugar high" rally on Canadian LPs

- What a Biden win means for US Operators

- Why this is good for future M&A

- How cannabis will fare under a split senate or under a republican senate

- Why "more of the same" is actually a win for existing players

- Why the NASDAQ remains the holy grail and how that impacts the current players

- How The Golden Age of Investing is likely to be prolonged 

We finish off with a few listener questions from Alex, Zachary and Ben D

In this post-election special we discuss what the future holds for cannabis investors and how to manage uncertainty

This week we discuss the importance of continually evolving your thinking in the rapidly developing cannabis landscape.

- Why updating your mindset is so important

- How to filter noise from real trend changes

Topics that we discuss our updated thinking on:

- Flower vs Extracted products

- Brands in Flower (how and why Cookies has performed so well)

- Vertical Integration

- Importance and Long Term Viability of Dispensaries

- Extractors

- Rec vs Medical markets

Lastly we give some final thoughts before the upcoming US election next week

In this episode we share an optimistic outlook for US Cannabis regardless of who wins the Senate or White House in Nov. Instead we talk about the positive developments we expect to see by the time we get to the next US election in 2024 and why we might look back on this period as "The Golden Age".

- What makes this "The Golden Age" for US Cannabis investing? Why does it not apply to Canada?

- Lack of capital, lack of access and lack of good information

- Pricing on Public vs Private cannabis companies

- Radical transformation of the industry expected over the next 3-5 years

- Future recreational states: NY, NJ, PA & FL (representing ~60M people)

- Some glaring inefficiencies in our market and how they will be corrected over time

- Positive developments at the municipal level

- Less talked about markets like South Dakota, Montana and Mississippi (and why they matter) 

- Future volatility and downside risk still very likely (and why that's an opportunity)

Listen to the speakers from last week's Benzinga conference for free @ https://www.benzinga.com/events/cannabis/virtual/