Canada has been on a steady march to legalize recreational marijuana, culminating in a historic Senate vote a few weeks ago. However, quite a few Canadian marijuana stocks have lost ground so far in 2018. Two year-to-date losers are Cronos Group (NASDAQ: CRON) and CannTrust Holdings (NASDAQOTH: CNTTF). Cronos stock is down around 20%, while CannTrust's share price has fallen more than 10%.

But will the future look brighter for these beaten-down marijuana stocks? And, if so, which is the better choice for investors? Here's how Cronos Group and CannTrust Holdings stack up against each other.

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The case for Cronos Group

If you're a value investor, you might want to sit down and back away from any heavy machinery. Cronos Group has a market cap of nearly $1.2 billion, and the company made a grand total of $4.9 million over the last 12 months. You're not going to want to buy this stock for its bargain price. But the potential for growth could be a different story.

Cronos Group has three key avenues for growth. One is supplying medical cannabis in its home country of Canada. Another is selling cannabis for the Canadian recreational adult-use market. And the third is targeting the global cannabis market.

The company is already growing by leaps and bounds in the domestic medical cannabis market. In its Q1 update, announced in May, Cronos reported a whopping 473% year-over-year jump in sales.

It remains to be seen how successful Cronos will be in the Canadian recreational market, but the company has definitely been gearing up for it. Cronos has cranked up its production capacity in anticipation of higher demand. The company also partnered with MedMen to open retail cannabis stores in Canada. MedMen is a leader in the U.S. cannabis industry.

Cronos has also taken steps to leap into international markets. The company signed an exclusive supply agreement with pharmaceutical distributor Pohl-Boskamp to serve the German medical cannabis market. It formed a partnership to supply medical cannabis to the Australian, New Zealand, and Southeast Asian markets. And just a few days ago, Cronos announced a distribution deal with Delfarma for Poland's medical cannabis market.

How much can Cronos Group realistically grow? I'm not sure. Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics think the global cannabis market will reach $57 billion by 2027. If Cronos could capture even 1% of that market, the stock should have room to move higher.

The case for CannTrust Holdings

Value investors should be OK to stand up before hearing about CannTrust, but you still might want to avoid the heavy machinery. CannTrust's market cap is more than $630 million. The company's trailing-12-month revenue was $19.2 million. Believe it or not, CannTrust is one of the cheapest marijuana stocks on the market.