Shares of Aurora Cannabis (ACB +3.35%) were up in Thursday afternoon trading following the release of the company's fiscal 2020 second-quarter results.
For the period, which ended Dec. 31, Aurora booked net revenue of just over 56 million Canadian dollars ($42 million), which was 26% lower than its fiscal Q1 result.
Higher expenses (up 23% sequentially), provisions for returns, and that revenue dive negatively affected the bottom line -- the company's net loss plunged to CA$1.3 billion ($980 million), from the previous quarter's thin profit of almost CA$11 million ($8 million).
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Following developments last week with Aurora, in which it announced the departure of its CEO, plus a round of job cuts and substantial goodwill impairment charges, many expected the quarter's results would be poor. Analysts were modeling around CA$65.5 million ($49.4 million) in revenue, and a net loss of roughly CA$1.0 billion ($754 million).
In terms of operational and volume metrics, in fiscal Q2 Aurora produced 30,691 kilos of product, and sold 9,501. Those figures represented drops of 26% and 24%, respectively. The company's average net selling price for its cannabis, both medical and recreational, fell to CA$5.54 ($4.18) per gram from the Q1 figure of CA$5.68 ($4.28).
Aurora wrote in its earnings release that it is "bullish on the long-term potential for the global cannabis opportunity."
"However, due to several short-term factors, there is likely to be a slower than previously expected rate of industry growth in the near-term," Aurora added. The company said it's expecting slight or no cannabis revenue growth on a sequential basis in Q3. It did not proffer more detailed guidance.
Investors appeared to be somewhat relieved that Aurora's performance wasn't too much worse than expected. The closely watched marijuana stock was up by slightly more than 1% as of 2 p.m. Thursday.
