With the cannabis industry reeling from a series of setbacks over the last six months, the marijuana business conference began in Las Vegas on Monday with an investors’ meet-up marked by existential distress.
“We are undergoing a recalibration in a very painful way” said Scott Greiper, president of Viridian Capital Advisors. “Markets are really depressed right now and we are looking for ways to come out of it.”
The market capitalization for the 33 biggest cannabis stocks has crashed 45% since March 31 — falling from $54 billion to $30 billion. Consensus estimates for project revenue have dropped 17 percent, said Craig Behnke, an equity research analyst for MJBiz Intelligence.
“You know you’re at the bottom when Willie Nelson stops smoking weed,” quipped one equity analyst. Nelson, the 86-year-old country-music legend and marijuana advocate, announced last week he was giving up his daily joints.
Still, most experts who attended the cannabis business intelligence conference at the Cosmopolitan remained guardedly optimistic for the future of the industry and held out hope for a reversal of fortunes. The annual conference, MJBizCon organized by Marijuana Business Daily, is expected to attract some 35,000 industry professionals.
“The ‘macro theme’ is still intact,” said Behnke. “We anticipate a tremendous growth story for years or decades to come, even though stocks are going down now.”