Aphria shares rallied nearly 15% after its latest quarterly report.
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Canadian cannabis stock Aphria popped Thursday morning after the company posted better-than-expected revenue for its November quarter.
The company (ticker: APHA) reported a net loss of 120.6 million Canadian dollars (US$95 million) or 42 Canadian cents per share. Its adjusted earnings, which excludes non-recurring items like losses on convertible debentures and share-based compensation, hit one Canadian cent per share.
Aphria’s sales appeared to a main focus for investors, however. Net revenue jumped 33% year-over-year to C$160.5 million, while Wall Street analysts expected C$153.9 million.
Investors have had other reasons to become more optimistic about Aphria stock: In December the company announced a merger with Canadian peer Tilray (TLRY). Combined, Aphria and Tilray would be the world’s largest cannabis firm. Aphria CEO Irwin Simon, who will lead the new company, said in the company’s Thursday earnings release that the Tilray deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this calendar year.
“Our market-leading adult-use cannabis brands and sales remained strong and our international medical cannabis sales are off to a solid start,” Simon said.
Recreational cannabis sales hit a record for Aphria at C$72.1 million during the quarter, up 149% from the prior year. The company’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization was C$12.6 million, up 26% year-over-year. Eight Capital analyst Graeme Kreindler wrote in a note Thursday that the figure beat his estimates by 6%, but were in line with consensus estimates.
U.S.-listed shares of Aphria and Tilray both rallied shortly after the market opened. Aphria stock was up 14.5% and Tilray shares were up about 11%, while the S&P 500 was 0.3% higher. The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (MJ), an exchange-traded fund with exposure to the cannabis business, was up 5.7%.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]
