Davis recommends focusing on social impact investments in the cannabis space
We've been making a noted effort to highlight the potential of psychedelics and cannabis as it pertains to the medical industry and the investing ecosystem.
Today, we chatted with Melanie Davis, COO & Director of Managed Service of The People's Ecosystem. Davis has decades of experience in the cannabis industry with extraordinary expertise in partnering, building, and growing businesses in the cannabis space. The People's Ecosystem is an organization focused on providing cannabis education, services and products while elevating resources and capital for minority canna-business owners.
Schaeffer's: What opportunities does The People's Ecosystem see for the cannabis industry as a whole?
Melanie Davis: The biggest opportunity in the cannabis industry for 2022 is to diversify advisors, boards, C-suite, management, staff and ancillary businesses. They should reflect every letter and every color to ensure your long term success. For example, look at how well legacy cannabis operators are doing by comparison to those in the regulated space. Additionally, the U.S. minority markets have over $4 trillion in purchasing power and are an entry point into the global markets we represent. Our markets have no borders.
Schaeffer's: What kind of growth potential do you see for the cannabis market in 2022?
Melanie Davis: While many states have regulated adult use of cannabis, countless social equity and microbusiness applicants are still in limbo. Many of whom continue to be financially drained and starved out by having to pay rents and mortgages on locations in advance of receiving a license. Meanwhile tax regulations and the lack of SAFE banking are forcing the consolidation of the industry thereby widening the advantage and privilege of MSO’s and placing social equity and microbusiness applicants at a further disadvantage.
You and I
can very easily do the math and demonstrate clearly that this is not equitable
nor is this reflective of a free market society. That in of itself is
disappointing and will be detrimental to the long term viability of the
cannabis market.
Schaeffer's: From your perspective, what are the best cannabis stocks or cannabis-adjacent stocks to invest in?
Melanie Davis: Social impact investments. While I can’t necessarily advise which cannabis stocks to invest in, I can provide insight on key factors to consider when making a stock investment in cannabis. As we move passed stigmas linked with cannabis, we can recognize the strengthening investment case for cannabis. This is mostly through the revenue growth and fundamental operating strength by the publicly traded MSO’s. As you would invest in any publicly traded company, look at the underlying fundamentals, meaning really assess the company’s values, investment profiles, and impact on the cannabis industry.
Schaeffer's: How much room is really left to grow in the cannabis industry within the United States and worldwide, in your opinion?
Melanie Davis: If we reduce barriers to enter the market place and operate as an open market society should, there is potential for significant growth. Legacy cannabis operators significantly outperform the regulated industry to the tune of over $100 BILLION and growing, year over year, regardless of the War on Drugs.
That being said I will leave you with this math formula:
The sum of the legacy market is equal to the barriers of entry into the regulated market.
*This article is published for purely informative purposes. The People's Ecosystem's opinions are not necessarily a reflection in any way of those of Schaeffer's Investment Research. We publish information about companies in which we believe our readers may be interested. The information that we provide or that is derived from our website is not intended to be, and should not be construed in any manner whatsoever as, personalized advice. Also, our website and the information provided by us should not be construed by any subscriber or prospective subscriber as SIR's solicitation to effect, or attempt to effect, any transaction in a security. Investments in the securities markets, and especially in options and futures, are speculative and involve substantial risk. The information that we provide or that is derived from our website should not be a substitute for advice from an investment professional. We encourage you to obtain personal advice from your professional investment advisor and to make independent investigations before acting on the information that you obtain from SIR or derive from our website.*