What happened
Aurora Cannabis (ACB -0.46%) investors are having a bad day. Investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald cut its rating on the marijuana stock from overweight to neutral Tuesday morning, reported TheFly.com, and cut its price target in half -- from 18 Canadian dollars a share to just CA$7 -- sending the stock spiraling downward on a flat day for the broader market.
As of 1:34 p.m. EDT, Aurora Cannabis stock was down by 6.3% -- but the company has only itself to blame.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
Early Tuesday morning -- about two and a half hours before Cantor issued its downgrade -- Aurora announced that it only has about $272 million left in proceeds from its previous "at the market" stock sale. To refill its coffers, the company is proposing to sell another $500 million worth of "common shares, preferred shares, warrants, subscription receipts and debt securities" over the next 25 months.
Cantor Fitzgerald was not at all pleased to hear this, observing that "contrary to expectations and guidance," says TheFly, the company appears to have burned through "what was left of the $183M equity facility in the last 30 days."
Now what
Now, Aurora needs more money, and to raise it, the company is issuing new stock, debt, warrants -- everything it thinks it might be able to sell, kitchen sink included. Notably, Aurora Cannabis's current stock is only valued at $505 million in total (plus another $275 million in net debt) so the sales it just announced that it's planning hold the potential to dilute existing shareholders' ownership stakes in the company by 50%.
No wonder investors are upset -- and no wonder Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the stock.
