Legal marijuana has more or less been anointed as the next-big-thing investment on Wall Street. After worldwide sales came in at just under $11 billion in 2018, various Wall Street firms have called for anywhere from $50 billion to $200 billion in global annual sales in roughly a decade's time. Regardless of the estimate you prefer, the point is that the industry should be growing at a double-digit average annual rate for some time to come.

That makes marijuana stocks a hot commodity -- and none has been arguably gravitated to more than Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB).

Cannabis stocks continue to take a beating as a range of events undermine investor confidence in the industry. Key among these have been massive spending, a lack of profitability and growing regulatory issues. While this should concern investors, not all legal cannabis cultivators are struggling with profitability or cost blowouts. One that is poised to perform strongly in coming months is Khiron Life Sciences(TSXV:KHRN) which, despite following larger marijuana stocks lower since mid-March 2019, is still up by 27% for the year to date.

Even though cannabis stocks have languished badly of late, sales in the global marijuana industry are thriving. After registering $10.9 billion in global sales in 2018, according to Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, worldwide licensed pot-store sales should top $40 billion by 2024. That's a compound annual growth rate of better than 24%.

Hexo Corp. (HEXO.TO 4.02%) is refuting a short seller’s allegations that it could be the next Canadian pot company to become embroiled in scandal. Investors seem to be shrugging off the report too.

The Gatineau, Quebec-based cannabis producer was the biggest gainer Monday on Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index, adding 9.2 per cent, the most since April. The stock was little changed in pre-market trading Tuesday in New York even as most other pot stocks declined.

The interim chief executive of CannTrust Holdings Inc. said the board was kept in the dark about unlicensed growing at its Ontario greenhouse and only learned of the allegations after Health Canada notified the pot company of its discovery.

Robert Marcovitch would not address questions about who gave the direction to start cultivating pot in five rooms at its Pelham, Ont.-facility before receiving government approval as its internal investigation is ongoing.

"Clearly, during the course of the investigation, information came to us and brought the attention to a number of issues," he said in an interview. "And, without a doubt, led to the decision of the board to terminate the former CEO, with cause, and to demand the resignation of the board chair."

In the grand scheme of things, marijuana stocks have been serious moneymakers over the past three-plus years. Since 2014, global licensed-store cannabis sales have more than tripled, and worldwide growth prospects have allowed pot stocks to soar. In fact, some of the best-known cannabis stocks are up well over 1,000% since the beginning of 2016 .

It’s easy to look at the cannabis industry from a bullish perspective as demand grows and cannabis companies continue to expand globally. Today we will be looking at metric that can demonstrate if a company could be overvalued: the goodwill to net asset ratio. This ratio compares the goodwill on a company’s balance sheet to a company’s total assets. Goodwill is not necessarily bad, as it represents the premium over the estimated market value of the assets acquired when buying another company. A company expecting to generate significant cash flow from an acquisition may record high amounts of goodwill as they expect the premium they pay on the investment to be offset with returns.

Ahead of the lottery for the next round of retail cannabis stores in Ontario, Amherstburg council is putting some extra "teeth" into the town's cannabis retail bylaws.

Council unanimously passed a "cannabis retail nuisance bylaw" Monday night, which includes standards and protocols for any store that opens in the future.

The town doesn't have any pot shops yet -- administration says it's just trying to get ahead of the game.

That’s because earlier this month the provincial government announced it would issue another 50 licenses to any community that's opted in. 11 of those will go to the west region and that includes Amherstburg.

Forgive the pun, but the cannabis industry is truly budding before our eyes. According to a newly released report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, global pot industry sales more than tripled from $3.4 billion in 2014 to $10.9 billion by 2018, and they're poised to nearly quadruple to $40.6 billion by 2024. Mind you, this figure doesn't include pharmaceutical-based cannabinoid sales, or cannabidiol (CBD) sales from general retail stores.

Industry giant Canopy Growth had a sterling IPO back on April 4, 2014, when the shares of the company began trading on the Toronto’s Venture Exchange (TSXV). On the first day, the stock closed at $2.59. The hype over marijuana was not as puffed up as it is today.

On October 15, 2017, or two days before the Cannabis Act became law, the price soared to $73.75. Investors who’d bought shares on IPO date and unloaded the stock on this day realized 2,747.5% gain. That’s outrageous and over the top.