Cannabis on the NYSE

What Trulieve’s New Listing Represents

Trulieve, one of the largest multi-state operators (MSOs), began trading on the NYSE today under the ticker TRLV. The stock finished slightly down on five times its average volume during a broadly negative day in the markets.

The speed at which Trulieve was able to list on a major exchange surprised nearly everyone, and it is largely thanks to the White House’s rescheduling of medical cannabis. Once medical cannabis was moved to Schedule III, Trulieve was uniquely positioned to separate its adult-use operations from its medical cannabis business — a distinction made easier by the fact that most of the company’s sales were already medical. Congratulations to Trulieve and its CEO, Kim Rivers — this is truly a pioneering step toward bringing cannabis into the mainstream financial system.

And so here we are for the first time, a plant-touching U.S. cannabis company is trading on a major exchange.

Now attention turns to adult-use rescheduling and the hearings scheduled from June 29th through July 15th. We believe that rescheduling adult-use cannabis should unlock the same access to major exchanges that medical rescheduling gave Trulieve.

We also believe the biggest beneficiaries of broader institutional capital and major exchange listings may not be the largest cannabis companies — many of which are struggling with growth, are concentrated in limited-license markets, and lack a clear path forward. Instead, the biggest winners may be smaller companies with strong growth trajectories, lean cost structures, and repeatable business models that have historically lacked the capital access enjoyed by their larger peers.

One example is Grown Rogue (OTC: GRUSF). The company is amid a substantial transformation, expanding from a two-state operator to a five-state operator while running at only 42% capacity utilization. As it brings that capacity online in limited-license states, growth, return on invested capital, and cash flow should improve significantly. We believe it is possible that Grown Rogue trades at 2.2 times the potential cash flow it could generate at full capacity — though that figure depends on pricing, which remains dynamic and faces ongoing long-term pressure. Regardless of where pricing settles in New Jersey, Illinois, and Minnesota, growth should accelerate as that capacity comes online, just as investors begin doing serious due diligence in the space and seek out low-cost, high-quality operators with a long runway ahead.

We believe Grown Rogue could qualify for a NASDAQ listing with a reverse split and adult-use rescheduling, and we continue to view the stock as materially mis-priced — and it is just one of several such opportunities across both public and private markets.

More Questions Than Answers for Trulieve and Others

Beyond the milestone of trading on a major exchange, the more interesting question is what Trulieve does with that liquidity and equity. Will they begin acquiring assets using publicly traded common stock? What is their strategic vision beyond their Florida footprint and the near-term tax savings of 280e going away? What are the second- and third-order effects of this listing? Will private equity and other corners of the financial world follow? I’ll address one potentially significant second-order effect in a separate post.

The cannabis landscape is shifting, and we believe substantial opportunity remains in the sector — particularly given how little institutional due diligence is currently being done and how few sophisticated investors are actively participating. This exchange listing is a meaningful signpost of what’s ahead. Don’t mistake the absence of an immediate surge for a lack of future upside — cannabis may be as compelling an opportunity as it has ever been.