Following up on its September initiation of coverage of the cannabis industry, Cowen and Company has extended its coverage to Canada in a report entitled “O Cannabis! – Initiating Coverage of Canadian Cannabis”. The 23-page report highlights Canada as the “first major developed market to legalize cannabis for adult use nationally,” suggesting that the market could reach $8 billion in sales by 2021. Analysts Vivien Azer and Aaron Grey discuss the potential negative implications for the Canadian alcoholic beverage industry, particularly beer.

Additionally, the investment bank issued a research report on Canopy Growth (TSX: CGC) (OTC: TWMJF), rating it “Outperform” and giving the company a price target of $13, up 31% from the close on January 9th. The 27-page report calls the company a first mover and suggests that the pending merger with Mettrum will give the combined company a market share of over 30%. Analyst Vivien Azer bases her target on a multiple of 4X FY19 sales of $545.6mm.

Currently trading at ~2x our FY3 sales, CGC’s multiple looks attractive given the robust top-line growth that CGC should realize once the underlying illicit market is legalized. Indeed, unlike other companies that aim to capitalize on emerging consumer trends, in cannabis, while CGC benefits from an emerging legal market, the informal market is well established. Similar high sales growth stocks include PLNT, LULU, and TSLA which at one point traded at multiples north of 5x FY3 sales.

Vivien Azer, Senior Analyst at Cowen and Company

Exclusive article by Alan Brochstein, CFA

Based in Houston, Alan leverages his experience as founder of online community 420 Investor, the first and still largest due diligence platform focused on the publicly-traded stocks in the cannabis industry. With his extensive network in the cannabis community, Alan continues to find new ways to connect the industry and facilitate its sustainable growth. At New Cannabis Ventures, he is responsible for content development and strategic alliances. Before shifting his focus to the cannabis industry in early 2013, Alan, who began his career on Wall Street in 1986, worked as an independent research analyst following over two decades in research and portfolio management. A prolific writer, with over 650 articles published since 2007 at Seeking Alpha, where he has 70,000 followers, Alan is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and a frequent source to the media, including the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, and Bloomberg TV. Contact Alan: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email