28 BARRON’S September 2, 2019
AnInterviewWithRobFagan
Analyst,GMPSecurities
U.S.Pot
Stocks
AreSet
ToGrow
ByBillAlpert
ROB FAGAN IS ONE OF THE FEW ANALYSTS ANY-
where who covers the stocks of U.S. canna-
bis chains like Green Thumb Industries or
Curaleaf Holdings. The 39-year-old re-
searcher at Canada’s GMP Securities be-
lieves that the U.S. operators have better
growth prospects than their better-known
counterparts in Canada, like Canopy
Growth.
But even after this year’s selloff of Cana-
dian producers, U.S. weed operations sell for
a fraction of the Canadians’ multiples. Fagan
explains why he thinks the U.S. stocks will
take investors higher. An edited version of
our conversation follows.
Barron’s : How did a nice Canadian boy end up
covering cannabis?
Fagan: I got a job at GMP Securities in 2011,
working as a research associate for the con-
sumer products analyst, Martin Landry. We
were introduced to Canopy Growth [ticker:
CGC] and led their public offering. They had
a hard time just getting a meeting with
other investment banks, but GMP goes after
niches where they can have a good market
share. Cannabis was one of them.
When we were marketing, Martin would
say he didn’t want to be the pot guy. But I
said, “I always wanted to be the pot guy!”
I’m a big fan of cannabis. It’s something I’m
passionate about. And I have a certain
knowledge base that could give me a compet-
itive edge.
Knowledge base?
Experience base...I don’t know how else you
would like me to describe it. An eye for qual-
ity, perhaps?
Photograph by Louna Nguyen