If there was any question what company is the dominant player in the Canadian marijuana industry, it should now be settled. Canopy Growth (CGC -10.51%) reported its third-quarter results Thursday evening and the big marijuana grower is clearly the leader.
This was a tremendously important quarter for Canopy, as it was the first time the company reported sales from the recently opened Canadian recreational marijuana market. Canopy's headline revenue number was great, but digging into its results revealed even more good news. Here are five things you'll really want to know from Canopy's sizzling Q3.
Image source: Getty Images.
1. Ginormous revenue growth
Everyone expected Canopy Growth would report tremendous revenue growth in Q3. And that's exactly what the company did.
Canopy posted Q3 net revenue of 83 million in Canadian dollars, which is roughly $62 million in U.S. dollars. This reflected a ginormous year-over-year increase of 283%. The comparison to the previous quarter was nearly as impressive, with Canopy's net revenue soaring 256% over the second quarter.
Analysts had been optimistic about Canopy's performance, but reality proved to be even better than they anticipated. The consensus revenue estimate for Q3 was CA$81.1 million according to analysts surveyed by FactSet, nearly CA$2 million below Canopy's actual result.
2. A commanding recreational market share in Canada
Aurora Cannabis (ACB -4.85%) beat Canopy to the punch earlier this week in reporting its results for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2018. Aurora announced that it captured a market share of around 20% in the Canadian recreational pot market. Sounds good, right? Just wait.
Canopy Growth didn't include any market share information in its regulatory filings for Q3. However, we can get a pretty good idea of the company's market share by comparing its recreational sales to Aurora's.
Aurora reported recreational pot sales of CA$21.6 million. Canopy blew that number out of the water with recreational sales of CA$57.7 million. A little number crunching reveals that Canopy had a commanding market share of more than 50%.
3. Impressive international sales growth
In its second quarter, Canopy's international sales growth was lackluster -- European medical cannabis sales grew only 1.8% over the previous quarter. Canopy Growth co-CEO Bruce Linton said in the company's Q2 conference call that there were "a couple of hiccups of getting the normal run rate to Germany."
There were no hiccups in the third quarter. Canopy reported international sales of CA$2.7 million (around US$2 million), up 173% year over year. In Q2, international sales accounted for roughly 10% of total revenue, which at the time consisted almost entirely of medical cannabis sales. Canopy said that international sales generated 16% of its total medical cannabis sales in the third quarter, up from 5% from the year-ago period.
Most of Canopy's international revenue comes from its Spektrum Cannabis subsidiary in Germany. The company reported that 204 kilograms of medical cannabis were sold in Q3 in Germany at an average price of CA$13.28 per gram. In the second quarter, 164 kilograms of medical cannabis were sold in Germany at an average price of CA$13.58 per gram.
4. A surprising profit -- with an asterisk
After posting its biggest loss ever in Q2, Canopy Growth roared back in Q3 with a surprising profit of CA$74.9 million (US$56 million), or CA$0.22 per share (US$0.17 per share). But just as the Q2 loss came with an asterisk, so did Canopy's Q3 profit.
The only reason the company was able to report positive earnings was because of fair value changes on its financial liabilities. In particular, the fair value of Canopy's senior convertible notes decreased significantly. Without the impact of this accounting requirement, the company would have had a net loss of CA$121 million (US$91 million), or CA$0.32 per share (US$0.24 per share).
5. The biggest cash stockpile in the industry
No company in the Canadian marijuana industry can touch Canopy Growth when it comes to cash. The company announced that it had cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities totaling CA$4.9 million (around US$3.7 milion) as of Dec. 31, 2018.
It's not hard to guess where that money came from. Constellation Brands' (STZ -1.42%) US$4 billion investment in Canopy last year provided the grower with a huge trove of cash to use for funding operations and expansion. Canopy has already started putting that money to use, recently announcing plans to build a large-scale hemp production facility in New York state.
Check out the latest Canopy Growth earnings call transcript.
What's next
Canopy's performance in future quarters should only get better. Remember, the company didn't have a full quarter of recreational pot sales in Q3. Add to that the realization that Canopy only started to ship its high-profit softgel capsules at the end of the quarter. Gross margins are likely to improve as Canopy's cultivation facilities reach their full utilization.
There's also a big new market on the way in Canada as the country is expected to allow sales of cannabis-infused edibles and beverages later this year. The U.S. holds new potential as well now that hemp is legal.
Linton stated that "sales from the first wave of products and retail environments launched in the third quarter demonstrate that we are capturing consumers' attention." He's right. And as Canopy continues to fire on all cylinders moving forward, it's likely to capture even more attention from investors, too.
