PI Financial Corp Cannabis/Special Situations Analyst Jason Zandberg discusses why he’s bullish on the US cannabis market. Zandberg notes that while Canadian recreational cannabis sales are falling behind original estimates, US numbers continue to exceed expectations. He’s excited about the potential of the Florida market and believes the introduction of smokable products, edibles, and rapid patient growth should accelerate sales numbers in that state. Zandberg notes that cannabis laws are increasingly passed through legislation on a state level and means consumers and investors do not have to wait for election periods for legalization to advance. Zandberg indicates that the international market for cannabis is significant but worries current exports are not enough to satiate global markets. Zandberg suggests the Canadian market is experiencing growing pains but the legalization of edibles should help with disappointing recreational sales numbers. Zandberg notes that if Aurora Cannabis Inc (TSE:ACB) (NYSE:ACB) (FRA:21P) finds are major partner, it will act as a sector catalyst.
Transcript:
James West: Okay, joining me now via Skype is Jason Zandberg. He is the cannabis analyst at PI Financial Corp. Jason, welcome back. Jason, so I’ve been asking everybody on the analyst front the same question, so I’m going to ask it of you as well: what are you seeing in the cannabis space that most excites you right now?
Jason Zandberg: You know, we’re still paying a lot of attention to the US space, and –
Ed Milewski: I can’t hear him.
Jason Zandberg: Can you not hear me?
James West: Yeah, I can hear you now fine, sorry.
Jason Zandberg: Yeah, no, we, you know, we continue to like the US space. You know, we saw some data out of the Canadian rec stats from January that, you know, that showed that cannabis is really falling behind in terms of where we expected the first year of cannabis sales to be, whereas it’s the opposite in a lot of the US states. We’re seeing numbers exceed where we are expecting. So we’re focusing very much on the US multi-state operators, you know, and zeroing in on states that we really like.
James West: Sure. So what are your favourite states, besides California?
Jason Zandberg: Florida is actually in a great position right now. Not only are we seeing sales doing really well in that state