We recently published a list of 7 Best CBD Stocks To Invest In Right Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) stands against other best CBD stocks to invest in right now.

An essential component of medical marijuana, CBD is the legal, non-psychoactive compound that is used to treat chronic pain, anxiety, and other ailments. Though initially met with skepticism, medical cannabis is rapidly gaining traction in the United States and as of the writing of this article, the use of marijuana for medical purposes is legal in 39 states, in addition to the District of Columbia. The latest state to join the growing list was Nebraska, which voted to legalize and regulate medical cannabis in November 2024.

READ ALSO: 12 Best Brewery Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds

Despite the growth, 2024 was overall a very turbulent year for the American cannabis sector. The decriminalization process is going slower than expected and legalization ballot measures in Florida, and South and North Dakota failed to pass. Wholesale prices are also at record lows and despite all the efforts, the legal industry still faces stiff competition from the unregulated black market. As a result, the American Cannabis Operator Index, which tracks the market value of firms in the industry, has fallen by over 50% since a year ago, and more than 90% since its peak in April 2019. A recent survey by Whitney Economics revealed that only 27.3% of cannabis operators nationwide are profitable. According to the US Chamber of Commerce, 65.3% of all small businesses in the US are profitable, so the cannabis sector is trailing far behind the national average.

A recent encouraging development came when President-elect Donald Trump publicly expressed support for recreational cannabis legalization efforts in his home state of Florida. He also backed up the industry’s access to the banking system and the ongoing federal cannabis rescheduling process. Whether this support will actually translate into wide-reaching cannabis reform remains to be seen. However, it puts to rest any previous concerns that Donald Trump could actually cancel the rescheduling process altogether if he gets re-elected since the process is under the purview of the US Department of Justice.

The US Cannabis Council, expressing its optimism for the sector under Trump’s presidency, stated:

“The cannabis community has every reason to be optimistic with President Trump returning  to the White House. He has endorsed the SAFE Banking Act and reclassification of cannabis. We look forward to working with his administration to advance meaningful federal reform.”

That said, the withdrawal of Matt Gaetz, a vocal proponent of federal legalization, as Trump’s nominee for attorney-general after allegations of sexual misconduct was highly discouraging for the country’s cannabis advocates. Moreover, a great deal of reforms will still have to get through both the House and the Senate, which will require some level of bipartisan cooperation.

As for the federal cannabis rescheduling process, the Drug Enforcement Administration held preliminary hearings on the matter in December and these are expected to conclude in March. Perhaps the most significant relief from the change will come in the form of tax reform. Currently, companies selling cannabis cannot deduct normal business expenses from their tax bill, costing them more than $2.2 billion in extra taxes than what would be paid if they were treated as mainstream businesses. If federal rescheduling happens, it is expected to improve the overall cash flow of the industry by $3.1 billion in 2026, helping improve the profitability of cannabis companies and giving their investors some much-needed optimism, even if Trump’s other promises go up in smoke.

Methodology

To collect data for this article, we scanned Insider Monkey’s database of 900 hedge funds and picked the top 7 companies operating in the cannabis sector with the highest number of hedge fund investors. When two or more companies had the same number of hedge funds investing in them, we ranked them by the revenue of their last financial year instead. Following are the Best CBD Stocks According to Hedge Funds.

At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 13

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) is a Canada-based cannabinoid company engaged in the cultivation, manufacture, and marketing of cannabis and cannabis-derived products for both medical and adult-use markets. A noteworthy aspect of the company is its close association with Altria Group, a giant in the tobacco industry that maintains a significant stake in Cronos which it acquired in 2019 for $1.8 billion.

In a positive development, Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) announced recently that its brand Spinach has become the best-selling cannabis brand in Canada, according to HiFyre Retail Analytics for August 2024. The company continues to build on this success and in Q3 2024, released new Spinach hits all-in-one vapes in Pink Lemonade and Rocket Icicle, as well as new flavors, mango and grape for a 1.2 gram base. Launched in November 2018, Spinach ranks first in both edibles and flower categories.

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) hasn’t been able to turn a net profit over the last 4 years, but its revenue has improved consistently. Keeping it up, the company’s revenue increased by a significant 38.8% to reach $34.4 million in Q3 2024. What’s more is that most of this growth came from the company’s increasing market share in Canada, reflecting its sustainable nature.  This comes after Cronos had already reported a notable 46% YoY increase in net revenue in Q2, highlighting its strong growth trajectory.

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) also remains focused on global expansion and already boasts a strong presence in countries like Israel, Germany, the UK, and Australia. To meet its growing flower demand in the international market, the company recently announced that it is investing heavily to support the expansion of its GrowCo state-of-the-art production facility.

Cronos Group Inc. (NASDAQ:CRON) maintains a strong balance sheet and ended Q3 2024 with an industry leading $862 million in cash and cash equivalents (significantly exceeding its current market capitalization), with zero debt obligations.

Overall, CRON ranks 3rd on our list of best CBD stocks to invest in right now. While we acknowledge the potential for CRON to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than CRON but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.