What happened
On a generally down day for the stock market, shares of cannabidiol (CBD) products specialist Charlotte's Web Holdings (CWBHF -1.92%) ticked up by 0.5% on Thursday. This market-beating performance was due to the company's third quarter of fiscal 2020 results, which were released that morning.
So what
Charlotte's Web reaped $25.2 million in revenue for the quarter, which was 17% higher than Q2's result, yet up only marginally from the same period of 2019. The former was helped immensely by direct-to-consumer digital sales; these rose by almost 28% to comprise a beefy 66% of Q3 revenue.
As for the bottom line, the company's net loss deepened to $6.6 million, or $0.05 per share. This was an improvement over the the previous quarter's $14.4 million deficit, but deeper than the year-ago shortfall of $1.3 million.
Image source: Getty Images.
Both headline numbers were broadly in line with analyst estimates.
One culprit for the continued losses is operating expenses, which declined only marginally on a sequential basis during the quarter. But management said it "has taken actions to better align" them, launching an expense optimization program that should help cut those costs.
Now what
Meanwhile, one encouraging statistic in Charlotte's Web's earnings release was the company's adding of almost 1,000 new "doors" to its distribution list during the quarter, bringing the total up to 22,000. While CBD isn't the most exciting corner of the marijuana industry, this figure provides hope that such products are becoming more popular among consumers.
