Marijuana company investors are hungry for at least some encouraging news from their stocks. On Monday, they got a bit from one of the industry's top names, Canopy Growth (CGC -0.66%).
The Canadian company reported its first quarter of fiscal 2021 results that morning, and certain key line items came in higher than expected. On the top line, Canopy Growth's net revenue was 110.4 million Canadian dollars ($82.5 million), which was 2% higher than the preceding quarter, and 22% above the Q1 2020 tally. Stripping out the company's most recent acquisitions, the latter growth figure would be 9%.
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Canopy Growth's net loss for the period was CA$128 million ($96 million), or CA$0.30 ($0.22) per share. This was far narrower than the over CA$1.3 billion ($971 million) deficit of the previous quarter, and CA$66 million ($49 million) better than the year-ago result.
On average, analysts following the stock were estimating net revenue of just over CA$112 million ($84 million), and a per-share net loss of CA$0.35 ($0.26).
The company's revenue growth was aided to no small degree by a 54% year-over-year increase in sales of medical marijuana, which totaled just over CA$34 million ($25 million). Revenue in the ever-competitive recreational segment fell by 11% to CA$44 million ($33 million).
A new product category launched earlier this year also helped lift the top line. In the press release detailing the results, Canopy Growth quoted CEO David Klein as saying that "[w]e grew our revenue year over year and are seeing market share improvement, notably achieving No. 1 market share in cannabis-infused beverages in the Canadian market."
Investors clearly liked what they saw with these results. The company's stock rose by 7.8% on Monday.
