Marijuana retail offers solid investment prospects

(This is an abridged version of a story that appears in the March 1 edition of Investor Intelligence.)

Retail investments can be tricky for several reasons, but it’s also a promising sector of the industry that is burgeoning across the country with new markets opening at a rapid clip.

Retail cannabis sales are expected to top $13 billion throughout the U.S. this year.

While a large portion of investment in this space has gone to vertically integrated operators, investment in retail-only assets is gaining traction.

Investors have pumped more than $200 million over the past 14 months into companies that focus solely on running medical marijuana dispensaries and/or recreational cannabis stores – and much more into vertically integrated companies, according to data tracked by Viridian Capital Advisors.

To date, large multistate operators have attracted the lion’s share of investment dollars – but there are other opportunities too.

Smaller players looking to expand in high-value markets need capital to scale. They could see outsized returns without requiring the significant capital investments needed by vertically integrated, multistate companies.

Several states have potential for strong investment opportunity, as growth in the cannabis industry accelerates.

Read more about the top prospects for retail cannabis investment and how to assess the opportunities in the March 1 issue of Investor Intelligence, the new premium subscription service from MJBizDaily.