The stock of Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR +5.47%) received a smack on the chin from investors on Thursday for its first-quarter fiscal 2020 results.
The company, the only marijuana-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) traded on the stock market, released those quarterly figures after hours on Wednesday. They showed that the company booked $21.1 million in revenue, more than triple the Q1 2019 result.
Innovative's net income also rose more than threefold to hit $11.5 million, or $0.72 per share. Adjusted funds from operations (FFO), considered a more accurate measure of profitability for REITs, ballooned to almost $17.8 million ($1.12 per share) from the year-ago figure of just under $5.3 million.
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On average, analysts following the stock had modeled $19.3 million on the top line, and $0.77 in per-share net profit.
The quarter was a relatively busy one for Innovative. It acquired a total of nine properties that collectively encompass 1.1 million square feet of rentable space, in Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado, and Florida. The company said the aggregate investment (purchase price plus development and/or reimbursement costs) into this real estate was just over $202 million.
Like the wider marijuana industry, Innovative has benefited from many municipalities and states across the U.S. deeming cannabis dispensaries essential businesses, and therefore allowed to operate to some extent through the pandemic. Nevertheless, cannabis companies are feeling the strain of coronavirus-related economic hardship; Innovative said it has provided rent deferrals to three of its tenants.
Investors reacted to these developments with disappointment; in contrast to the gains of the broader stock market, Innovative's shares closed down on Thursday, dropping nearly 2.7%.
