Trulieve Cannabis is heating up Florida’s pot market, says Beacon Securities

Patient growth continues to impress in the state of Florida, according to Beacon Securities analysts Doug Cooper and Russell Stanley, who in an industry update on Tuesday say that Trulieve Cannabis (Trulieve Cannabis News, Stock Quote, Chart CSE:TRUL) is still leading the way with a 60 per cent market share in Florida.

According to data supplied by the Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana (OMMU), the active patient count in Florida is now over 237,000, up 134 per cent from July 2018 levels yet still represents a little over 1.1 per cent of the population. Cooper and Stanley note that should patient penetration hit levels seen in Arizona’s medical cannabis market, the Florida number would be above 575,000, another 140 per cent growth over current levels.

“In addition to strong fundamentals (second largest state in the US by population, limitations on licenses, strong continued patient growth), Florida also provides weekly data through a report published by the Florida Department of Health’s Office of Medical Marijuana. Relative to other states, this gives investors unparalleled visibility with respect to dispensary openings, patient count growth and sales volumes,” write Cooper and Stanley.

Currently, there are 141 dispensaries open in Florida and 22 licensed companies, each of which is capped at 35 dispensaries, save for Trulieve, which is capped at 49 due to a court settlement earlier this year.

Updating on particular companies, Cooper and Stanley note that in advance of being allowed to offer edible products in the state, Trulieve has established a number of partnerships with edible companies, including Bhang Corporation, which placed first for Best Cannabis-infused Chocolate at WeedCon 2019. The analysts say that this validation bodes well for TRUL once it can bring edibles to market.

The analysts note that Columbia Care has just been authorized to open its first dispensary in the state, Liberty Health Sciences for its 16th location and Trulieve for its 30th, while iAnthus Capital recently announced the opening of dispensaries in Daytona and Orlando. Finally, Surterra Wellness, which has the second-largest market share in the state at 13 per cent, recently announced a private financing raise of $100 million, slated for use in acquisitions and CAPEX.

Finally, Cooper and Stanley note that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed legislation that, some argue, will make it more difficult for the adult-use legalization issue to be put to a voter ballot. At the same time, the analysts point out that a recent poll showed that 65 per cent of Florida residents support legalization.

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