The Top Cannabis Stocks to Consider in a Market Worth $16.9 Billion

HOUSTON, TX / ACCESSWIRE / February 12, 2019 / The cannabis market is gaining significant traction.

Over the last year, Canada approved its recreational use. More U.S. states are legalizing. Corporate America is using cannabis in everything from lotions and sunscreen to alcohol and sports drinks. President Trump signed the 2018 Farm Bill into law. And Congress has now submitted a cannabis bill that could potentially legalize cannabis at the federal level with S. 420.

In short, the cannabis boom has just gotten started.

According to Arcview Market Researcher and BDS Analytics, global spending on cannabis is expected to rocket 38% this year to $16.9 billion up from $12.2 billion in 2018. Additionally, it could see compound annual sales growth of 26.7% between 2017 and 2022.

As the story just begins to explode, some of the most interesting stocks that could benefit include MediPharm Labs Corp. (TSXV: LABS) (OTCQB: MLCPF), Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB), and Tilray Inc. (NASDAQ: TLRY).

MediPharm Labs Corp. (LABS)(MLCPF) just announced that its subsidiary, MediPharm Labs Inc. has entered into a sales agreement with a leading Licensed Producer to supply about $35 million of private label purified cannabis oil concentrates.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Licensed Producer will immediately purchase $7.66 million of cannabis oil concentrate from MediPharm Labs' inventory in February 2019. In addition, the Licensed Producer will purchase a minimum of $27 million of cannabis oil concentrate over a 12-month period commencing March 2019, with an option to purchase an additional $13.5 million over the same period, bringing the total potential aggregate value of the agreement to over $48 million to February 2020.

"As the cannabis industry continues to rapidly grow and evolve, MediPharm Labs has quickly established itself as a dominant player and leading provider of private label cannabis oil concentrates to other Licensed Producers and branded product manufacturers. We have also demonstrated the permanent need for a specialized extraction provider to fulfil and secure the cannabis supply chain for medical and recreational consumers," said Pat McCutcheon, CEO of MediPharm Labs.

"With our significant first mover advantage, deep expertise, leading-edge proprietary technology to manufacture and develop high-quality cannabis oil and concentrate products at commercial scale, we have quickly been able to execute several major contracts already and continue to see robust demand for our specialized products and services and are well positioned to achieve strong revenue growth as a dominant extraction company in the cannabis industry."

For More Information on MediPharm Labs Corp. (LABS)(MLCPF), Click Here.

While Tilray Inc. (TLRY), a leader in cannabis production, research, cultivation, and distribution, has not yet made an announcement that it will establish operations in the U.S hemp market, it did just sign a letter of intent (LOI) with LiveWell Canada Inc. Under theterms of agreement, Tilray will buy hemp-derived CBD isolate sources in Canada and the United States. The CBD isolate that Tilray is buying from LiveWell Canada will be used for Tilray's wellness and medical products in Canada and the U.S.

The company is also scheduled to report fourth quarter results today. Analysts expect the company to post a loss of 18 cents on revenue of $12.4 million. Dried cannabis products make up 79% of the company's revenue. CBD oils make up just over 19% of its business, as well.

For More Information on Tilray, Inc., Click Here.

Aurora Cannabis (ACB) recently acquired Europe's largest producer, processor and supplier of organic hemp and hemp products, Agropro UAB, and hemp processor and distributor Borela UAB. All as Aurora seeks to extract, refine and produce organic hemp biomass into a number of CBD-based wellness products. The company also made headlines in December 2018 after announcing it entered into an agreement to invest $10 million through a brokered private placement in High Tide Inc., a private cannabis and lifestyle accessories retailer.

Aurora reported a second quarter loss of C$237.8 million ($178.8 million) on revenue of C$54.2 million. Analysts had expected revenue of C$51.8 million. The company said it sold nearly 7,000kg of cannabis in the quarter, which accounted for 20% of consumer sales in Canada.