Aurora Stock Jumps 14% Despite Disappointing Q1 Financial Results

Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB), a constituent in the munKNEE Pure-Play Pot Stock Index, announced its Q1 financial results today for the period ended September 30, 2020. The highlights are as follows:

Q2 Financial Highlights (All results are presented in Canadian dollars - go here to convert into USD - and compared to the previous quarter.)

• Total Net Revenue: almost unchanged at $67.8M
  • Consumer Cannabis Net Revenue: -3% to $34.3M
    • Adj. Gross Margin: increased to 38% from 35%
  • Medical Cannabis Net Revenue: +4% to $33.5M
    • Adj. Gross Margin: declined to 59% from 67%
• SG&A: -24.7% to $44.3M
• R&D: -66.2% to $2.6M
• Adj. EBITDA: loss increased by 95.6% to $(57.9M)

Operational Highlights

• Production Volume: +23%
• Production Cost/g of Dried Cannabis: -27% to $0.89/g
• Kilograms Sold: -3.6%
• Average Net Selling Price/g of Dried Cannabis: increased 3.3% to $3.72/g
• Capital Expenditures: -19.5% to $13.2M

Management Commentary

Miguel Martin, Chief Executive Officer, said:

• "Our Q1 2021 results are transitional but do highlight successes across a number of diverse profit pools.
  • We remain the leader by revenue in the high-margin Canadian medical market,
  • our international medical business experienced more than 40% net revenue growth this quarter,
  • and our CBD brand Reliva is #1 ranked by Nielsen in the U.S. CBD sector. 
• While we are not satisfied with our past performance in the growing Canadian consumer business,
  • we have a sense of urgency in the execution of our tactical plan to grow profitable market share
  • and have also taken action to improve our liquidity and strengthen our balance sheet.”

Stock Performance

While the Aurora stock price was DOWN 62.2% YTD, as of yesterday, it is showing considerable improvement of late going UP a dramatic 141.7% since the end of October. As can be seen in the chart below the Aurora stock price has jumped  +14% so far today (Monday). (Chart below is in Canadian dollars - go here to convert into USD).

(Click on image to enlarge)