“I don’t really know that there’s a lot of stock-market money to be made in this,” Brian Barish, president of Denver- based Cambiar Investors LLC, which manages $9 billion, said in a telephone interview. “I’ve definitely seem some interest and gotten a couple calls. Most of them have been with chuckles on the other end of the line.”

Eighteen states and Washington, D.C., allow the medical use of marijuana and 11 permit sales through dispensaries, according to the Denver-based National Conference of State Legislatures. National legalization has the potential to start a $35 billion to $45 billion a year industry, according to Bloomberg Industries.

Pot for recreational use sells for an average of $400 an ounce, compared with $200 an ounce that Colorado retailers collect for medical marijuana, according to Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis Industry Association, a Washington-based trade group.

Building Momentum

Medbox Inc., which has a market value of $920 million, climbed to a one-year high of $73.90 on Jan. 7. The West Hollywood, California-based company had about $260,000 in profit on sales of $2.1 million in the third quarter of 2013, according to a Nov. 19 statement.

Advanced Cannabis, which leases space to producers and vendors, has climbed to $7.95 this year from $3.25. The Colorado Springs, Colorado-based company reported a $472,000 loss on $455 in sales in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

“We kind of anticipated this happening with the euphoria that happens around the cannabis space with any significant news,” Frichtel, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Cannabis, said in a telephone interview. “Momentum is just starting to build behind the industry and I assure we’ll do everything right to continue to promote shareholder value.”

GreenGro Technologies has climbed to 80 cents a share from 4 cents at the end of last year. The Anaheim, California-based company reported a net loss of $221,644 during the third quarter. Growlife Inc., which makes indoor growing equipment, has climbed to 35 cents a share from 15 cents in 2013. Tranzbyte, which has a market value of $29 million, has risen to 1 cent from 0.29 cent.

“We appreciate the confidence of investors,” Marco Hegyi, president of Woodland Hills, California-based Growlife, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News. “We are essential to the expansion of the legal cannabis market.”

U.S. investors poured money into Chinese stocks in 2009 that went public via reverse mergers amid optimism about the world’s second-biggest economy. The gains were erased over the following two years as the global financial crisis unfolded and some of the stocks were targeted by short sellers.