In a newly legal, fast-growing industry, the trajectory of some young companies can be a wild trip.

MedBox’s big plans to produce and sell medical marijuana dispensary machines gave the company a market capitalization of more than $2 billion in late 2012, but two years later, news of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and the company’s subsequent restatement of its 2013-2014 financial results helped drive the share price into penny stock territory.