CannTrust Holdings Inc. shares soared Tuesday, after the Canadian cannabis company posted a surprise quarterly profit and said it’s on track with a production goal of 50,000 kg of annual capacity by the third quarter.
The U.S.-listed shares rose…
12% to bring their year-to-date gains to 33%.
Vaughan, Ontario-based CannTrust said it had net income of C$12.8 million ($9.5 million), or 12 cents a share, up from earnings of C$11.4 million, or 12 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. The FactSet consensus, based on six analyst estimates, was for a loss of 5 cents a share.
Total revenue rose 115% to C$16.9 million ($12.5 million), which was just shy of the FactSet consensus of C$17.2 million.
Chief Executive Peter Aceto said the small revenue miss was partly due to the need to stockpile inventory to ensure the company can serve its rapidly growing medical cannabis patient base, which grew 70% to 68,000 in the quarter from 58,000 at year-end. Medical cannabis accounted for C$11.4 million of total revenue, while recreational cannabis accounted for the remaining C$5.5 million.
“There were also some timing issues related to how cannabis gets harvested and moves through the supply chain,” he told MarketWatch in an interview. It takes an average of 60 days from the time of harvest for the product to be sold into the market, which means the company is well set up for second-quarter production, he said.
The company produced over 9,400 kg of cannabis in the quarter, up 96% from the fourth quarter. It sold more than 3,000 kg of dried cannabis equivalent at an average net price of $5.47 a gram. The cost of sales per gram sold fell to C$3.03 from C$3.08, while the cash cost per gram sold fell to C$2.77 from C$2.94.
The company raised…
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