This morning, the cannabis industry has again entered into the old guard New York Stock Exchange with the market debut of Canopy Growth Corp (CGC), the largest provider of medical marijuana in Canada.
Investors clambered to get a piece of the biggest pot stock in the world now that it’s more widely available to Americans. Over a million shares traded in the first hour after market open, as shares fell from an opening price of $30.85.
But price wasn’t the most important indicator of the day, experts said, as much as the mere fact of the debut.
“An event like this is massive,” said Jason Spatafora of MarijuanaStocks.com. “When a company like Canopy goes to the New York Stock Exchange, it shines a big spotlight on this industry that’s still so young.”
Two days ago on the Toronto Stock Exchange, said Spatafora, Canopy shares traded $216 million Canadian: “It pretty much already traded that in the first hour and a half on the NYSE.”
Bruce Linton, the founding chairman and CEO of the Canadian-based corporation said in a news release, “Five years ago, as a small… start-up in the cannabis sector, we could have never imagined this historic moment.” Earlier, he’d told Bloomberg,”I think the investment community has to drop the pot jokes and talk about the investment grade opportunity.”
Industry players explained why Canopy’s move to the big board–the world’s oldest and largest stock exchange– matters to the wider mainstream acceptance of the business.
“The ability for cannabis to access real capital and markets has never happened,” said Joshua Laterman, chief executive of the National Association of Cannabis Businesses. “The industry has been historically unable to access capital because cannabis is federally illegal. This is going