Those investors who recognized the potential of Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group (NASDAQ: CRON) five years ago are now enjoying their skyrocketing returns.

The vertically integrated cannabis company was one of the first “pure-play” cannabis stocks to join a major U.S. exchange in 2018. At first, the company’s core operations involved medical marijuana, but once Canada opened its doors to recreational weed, the company jumped in.

Over the last five years, Cronos’ stock has outperformed some of the most popular stocks in the world, such as Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) and Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN)

In 2021, Cronos entered the U.S. cannabis market via a $110.4 million investment in the U.S. multi-state operator PharmaCann, obtaining a 10.5% stake. Cronos' strategic move laid the ground for its full operations once cannabis becomes legal on the federal level in the U.S.

See also: This Cannabis Company Has A Better 5-Year Return Than Ford, Alibaba, Facebook And Zynga

Cronos’ potential was also recognized by one of the largest manufacturers and advertisers of tobacco, cigarettes and similar products, the Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO), which acquired a 45% stake in the company for $1.8 billion in 2019.

Here's how the returns break down from September 2016 to present:

Facebook is up from $127.10 a share to $382.18 for a return of 200.69%;

Amazon is up from $760.14 a share to $3,509.29 for a return of 361.66%;

Apple is up from $25.78 a share to $156.69 for a return of 507.75%;

Netflix is up from $96.50 a share to $606.71 for a return of 528.72%;

And finally, Cronos is up from CA$0.495 per share to CA$8.06 for a return of 1528.28%.

Nina Zdinjak

Benzinga