Canopy Growth Corp has earned its high share price, this advisor says

Legal weed is almost here, which means that Canada’s pot companies can get ready to harvest those crops and start stocking shelves.

And none are expected to make a bigger splash than Canopy Growth Corp (TSX:WEED, NYSE:CGC), whose leadership in the space is indisputable, says Nicole Marchand of investor relations firm Grit Capital, who points to Canopy’s international presence as key to its success.

Yesterday, Bill C-45 jumped the final hurdle on the way to becoming law, getting passed by a 52 – 29 vote in the Senate, leaving the federal government to now decide when to enact the new legislation, likely coming within eight to 12 weeks.

“We’ve just witnessed a historic vote for Canada,” said Senator Tony Dean, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “The end of 90 years of prohibition. Transformative social policy, I think. A brave move on the part of the government.”

Smiths Falls-based Canopy Growth issued a statement to mark the occasion.

“There are no words to describe and acknowledge this historic moment in Canada. We would like to commend the fearless advocates who spent years building momentum for change … From our family of companies and brands, here’s to the next chapter of growth,” the company said.

For investors, the rise and fall of Canopy’s share price over the past six or seven months has been emblematic of the space in general. The stock more than doubled over a few short weeks between early December and early January, only to tumble again by late January.

But WEED has been climbing steadily since April and is now poised to vault past that January high of $44.00. The fear remains, however, that valuations are too high for a yet-to-be-realized industry, with Canopy’s standing as a prime example. Not so, says Roch-Decter.

“Companies that are leaders command a higher valuation,” Marchand told BNN Bloomberg recently. “We travel all over the world and everyone from my Uber driver to high net worth family offices that we meet with are shareholders of Canopy. They have a real international shareholder base that follows them and listing on the NYSE also helped propel them as the leader.”

To go along with that presence is Canopy’s huge war chest of cash to spend on acquisitions and expansion efforts. Recently, WEED upsized its offering of convertible senior notes due 2023 to $500 million, bringing its overall cash position into the $800-million range.

Investors will be closely watching Canopy’s upcoming fourth quarter fiscal 2018 financial results, due next Wednesday, with analysts expecting the company’s revenue will come in at the $24.0-million mark for the quarter