A Huge Announcement From Steve Sjuggerud

Did you miss last night's Empire Investing Summit?... Big news for the cannabis industry... The world's top hedge fund is super bullish on China... A huge announcement from Steve Sjuggerud... Introducing New Money, our first feature-length film...

Editor's note: Our offices will be closed tomorrow in observance of Good Friday. We'll resume our usual publishing schedule on Monday, April 22, after this weekend's Masters Series. We hope you enjoy the holiday.

We'll begin today's Digest with a little housekeeping...

We're pleased to report that last night's Empire Investing Summit was a tremendous success.

Nearly 30,000 folks tuned in to hear our friend Whitney Tilson share his powerful investment strategy on camera for the first time. They also had the chance to take advantage of an incredible charter offer to try Whitney's brand-new Empire Investment Report.

If you were able to join us, we hope you enjoyed the event as much as we did. We'd love to hear your thoughts at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

But if you weren't able to make it, you're not out of luck just yet...

For a limited time, you can still view a full replay of the event... And you can still take advantage of a 100% risk-free charter offer to try the Empire Investment Report for yourself. Click here to get started now.

This morning brought some big news for the up-and-coming cannabis industry...

Canopy Growth (CGC) – the world's largest cannabis company – announced plans to buy Acreage (ACRGF), one of the biggest cannabis growers in the U.S., for $3.4 billion.

This is a big deal. However, because cannabis remains illegal at the federal level in the U.S., the terms of the deal were a little unusual. As the Wall Street Journal reported...

In the deal, Canopy will pay Acreage roughly $300 million in cash upfront. If national legalization moves forward, Canopy said it would pay Acreage shareholders 0.5818 share in Canopy Growth for each Acreage share held...

[The] deal would help Acreage develop its store and brand, and it would help Canopy navigate regulatory pitfalls given how many influential people Acreage has on its board, including John Boehner, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and William Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Acreage, which is based in New York, has several cannabis-related licenses across 20 states with 87 dispensaries and 22 cultivation and processing sites.

Our colleague Thomas Carroll – editor of Cannabis Capitalist – wasn't surprised...

He believes it's simply a matter of time before cannabis regulations are loosened by the federal government. And as he explained in an update to his Cannabis Capitalist subscribers this afternoon, this news is great confirmation of his thesis...

Today, the largest cannabis company in the world just agreed with us...

Canopy is doing exactly what we thought it would: using its cash and stock to buy other cannabis companies. We don't need to own Canopy to benefit from its behavior. It's expensive, trading at an enterprise value of 78 times earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ("EBITDA") – far higher than the overall S&P 500's EV/EBITDA ratio of about 13.

You see, Canopy is not a U.S. company. Its stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, but it does no business in the U.S. It can't – cannabis is illegal in the U.S. at the federal level.

But the U.S. is the largest cannabis market in the world. As legalization efforts gain traction, it will become even more attractive.

In other words, like Thomas, Canopy clearly believes legalization is a matter of 'when,' not 'if'...

And it was willing to "pay up" to position itself in advance of that move. More from his update...

It's worth noting that Canopy is not buying Acreage today. The company is giving itself the option to buy Acreage when the U.S. legalizes cannabis.

Put differently, Canopy is spending a lot of money on a U.S. company before legalization. It is positioning itself now, just like us.

Canopy is paying Acreage $2.55 per share now – about $300 million. The deal will be finalized when cannabis gets legalized at the federal level. At this closing, Canopy will provide 0.5818 of its shares for every Acreage share. If completed today, ACRGF shares would be valued at $29.31, a 30% premium to yesterday's close.

Thomas also noted that this news is good for two of his U.S-based recommendations...

That includes Green Thumb Industries (GTBIF), which he shared with all attendees of his free educational webinar last month...

This move today is benefiting one of our favorite U.S.-based companies – portfolio holding Green Thumb Industries. Its shares are reacting favorably to this news. Green Thumb is also well positioned in the U.S. It's very likely that it is also on the radar screen for some of the larger, globally focused companies.

Let's not forget another one of our portfolio positions... one of the best-positioned hemp/CBD product companies in the U.S. We mention it because [this firm] would be a turn-key solution for an acquirer to gain access to this growing market that gained material regulatory clearance with the 2018 Farm Bill.

Both [of these companies] are potential take-out candidates.

Switching gears, the world's most successful hedge fund is super bullish on Chinese stocks today...

Speaking in a recent interview, Karen Karniol-Tambour – head of investment research at Ray Dalio's Bridgewater Associates – called China a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for U.S. investors.

Why? In short, thanks to several recent changes, Americans now have the rare chance to buy one of the world's biggest and most dynamic markets for the first time.

"The thing that makes this opportunity so compelling is that, for many investors, this a market that essentially didn't exist," she said. "If you believe in diversification, you're not going to get a lot of opportunities where such a large market opens up."

If this sounds familiar, it should...

Steve Sjuggerud also believes China is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for investors.

In fact, he's been practically begging readers to put some money into Chinese stocks for several years now.

He's written dozens and dozens of essays. He even launched a brand-new service dedicated entirely to Chinese stocks.

Subscribers who have followed his advice have done incredibly well so far... and Steve expects they'll do even better in the years ahead.

Unfortunately, these folks are relatively few and far between...

You see, despite Steve's best efforts, the vast majority of our readers have remained unconvinced.

Despite his detailed reports on China's extraordinary transformation, most folks still saw it as little more than a third-world communist nation responsible for cheap T-shirts and crappy electronics.

Then, Steve had an idea...

A couple years ago, he started personally taking subscribers over to China to see it all for themselves.

He's now organized a handful of these trips. And without exception, they've been a huge success. Everyone who has gone with him – both subscribers and Stansberry Research staff alike – has been blown away by what they've seen. They finally "get it."

Of course, there was just one problem with this approach.

There was simply no way we could possibly bring all of Stansberry Research's half a million subscribers to China with him.

So recently, Steve decided to try something else... If he couldn't bring all our subscribers to China, maybe he could bring China to them.

Yesterday, we shared the details on our Tuesday trip to New York City...

That afternoon, we gathered on the floor of the New York Stock ("NYSE") Exchange to celebrate the five-year anniversary of Steve's favorite China fund. But as we mentioned, that wasn't the only reason for our visit.

Following the closing-bell ceremony, we returned to the NYSE's auditorium for a special event:

The world premiere of New Money, Stansberry Research's first full-length feature film.

That's right... Steve hired a world-class film crew, and set out to bring the full experience of visiting China back to our subscribers in the U.S. And that's exactly what they did.

Everyone we spoke with at the screening was blown away by the quality of the film. And it has already converted a number of longtime China "skeptics" into China "bulls."

Today, we're thrilled to release Steve's new film to all Stansberry Research subscribers...

In New Money, you'll follow Steve and his team around the world... from the United States... to Amsterdam... to Hong Kong... to mainland China, where you'll get an up-close and personal look at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in China today.

If you're among the skeptics who have doubted Steve's bullish stance on China to date, we urge you to take some time over this long weekend to check it out.

Be sure to let us know what you think at feedback@stansberryresearch.com. And feel free to forward the link to any friends or family members who might also like to see it.

Please note: We've decided to make our first feature-length film available to all interested viewers without requiring a subscription. However, we spent several hundred thousand dollars to produce this film, so we're asking for just a small fee of $4.99. This will help us defray some of the costs so that we can continue to produce these in the future.

Click here to watch New Money now.

New 52-week highs (as of 4/17/19): Microsoft (MSFT) and PepsiCo (PEP).

Several readers have written in with their thoughts on last night's Empire Investing Summit. Did you tune in? We'd love to hear what you thought as well. Drop us a line at feedback@stansberryresearch.com.

"Porter, many thanks for partnering with Whitney Tilson. I first heard and saw Whitney in person at the Stansberry Research Conference Las Vegas last October and have been reading his daily emails ever since. The terrific presentation this evening led me to become a charter lifetime subscriber to the Empire Investment Report.

"It was great to see the 'new you' on the webinar! You were much slimmer and calmer this evening than when I saw you on stage at the Bellagio seven months ago. You look fantastic. Congratulations on your courageous transformation." – Paid-up Stansberry Alliance member Bob M.

"I just finished watching the Empire Investing Summit. Of course I signed up... But I really wanted to tell Porter he looks fantastic! I know he's been working hard to get his health back on track, and it shows! Congratulations, and keep it up! Your many fans want you around for a long time." – Paid-up subscriber Laura O.

"Dear Porter, I'm watching you right now with Whitney Tilson – his new service is a great opportunity. I want you to know it's great to see and hear you. I'm a Stansberry Alliance Member and love it! Thank you." – Paid-up Stansberry Alliance member Sanda A.

Regards,

Justin Brill Baltimore, Maryland April 18, 2019