EXCLUSIVE: Ricky Sandler sees ‘incredible opportunity’ in cannabis, especially these 4 pots

Institutions have been totally reluctant to invest in the evolving cannabis space – with the exception of Capital Eminence.

The investment firm focuses on finding strong, growing companies that have been mispriced by the market. This investment orientation led Eminence to the cannabis sector, Ricky Sandler, founder and CEO of Eminence Capital, said Thursday at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital conference in Miami Beach.

High Opportunity: The cannabis industry is one of the biggest representations of the disconnect between companies and their stock prices, Sandler said.

“Right now there is a lack of capital to deliver an industry that has incredible opportunity and this mismatch means the capital that is being deployed is being deployed at an attractive price,” he said.

Sandler is confident that other institutions will enter the space over the next few years and said he is looking for opportunities that allow the company to be successful over the long term. Investing in cannabis now puts the business ahead of the rest, he said.

“I want to buy what no one is buying because eventually they will buy and I can tell you I’m maybe the first institutional investor in this space, but I’m pretty comfortable,” Sandler said. “Over the next three to five years, most of my peers and the big bucks are going to be in this space.”

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Those who invest in public MSO companies are actually buying secondary shares of registered securities, he noted: “You’re not even funding a company directly, so you might be a step back from what you’re collecting. as a risk.”

Sandler said he is currently invested in four publicly traded cannabis companies: Green Thumb Industries Inc. GTBIF, Verano Holdings Corp. VRNOF, TerrAscend Corp TRSSF and Cresco Labs Inc. CRLBF.

“I’ve been in the market for the past few days,” Sandler said. “We buy more when they drop.”

Watch Sandler’s full presentation below: