Michael Berger is a leading expert on the cannabis sector, a market that is just in its early stages of development. Here, the Associate Editor of MoneyShow.com highlights four trends he recognized while attending the Marijuana Business Daily Conference in Orlando.
The Spring 2016 Marijuana Business Conference & Expo featured more than 3,000 business professionals who traveled to Orlando this week to meet and engage with companies who operate in the cannabis industry, the most rapidly developing industry in the world.
The conference featured several industry experts like John Morgan, Troy Dayton, Matt Karnes, and Tom Quigley.
Trends Worth Noting
We have attended the last three Marijuana Business Daily conferences and some of the trends we discovered are worth noting.
- Where did all of the vaporizer companies go?
When we attended the conference in November 2014, we did not expect to see so many companies focused on the vaporizer and e-cigarette industry. This revelation convinced us that this sector was extremely saturated and most likely about to burst.
At the conference this past week, there were maybe two vaporizer companies present and the ones that were there, were the industry leaders.
- The number of public companies continues to decrease
There were more than 20 publicly traded cannabis companies at the Marijuana Business Daily conference in 2014. This year - less than five.
Publicly traded cannabis companies have been under a microscope ever since nine were suspended in 2014. The stock price movements of companies such as Cannabis Sativa (CBDS), Cannabis Science (CBIS) and Pineapple Express (PNPL), have many investors cautious when it comes to investing in cannabis stocks, and rightly so!
We spoke with MassRoots (MSRT), Pazoo (PZOO), and General Cannabis Corp (CANN), while at the conference and these companies continued to see value in attending. They also did not seem to mind the limited presence of public companies.
- All Eyes are on the election
The 2016 Presidential Election was a main topic of the conference and the overall attitude was upbeat. While pretty much all attendees believe that Bernie Sanders would be the best president for the industry, attendees were mixed when it came to comparing Trump to Clinton.
- Next big thing…lab testing
One of the most important, if not the most important aspect of the legal cannabis market is the quality of product. Some of the busiest booths at the conference were the companies who operate in the cannabis lab testing industry and those who sell the equipment.
Right now, the cannabis industry is self-regulated and many states have passed laws that require cannabis products to be tested before being sold. This market is just getting started and we expect it to see continued growth for years to come. One of the public companies, PZOO, is heavily focused on this industry and was a major attraction at the conference.
