Let's face facts; it's been a rough slog for Canopy Growth (CGC -2.21%) investors over the years. In the company's home of Canada, licensing troubles, heavy competition, high taxes, and a raft of other problems have plunged many marijuana companies into the red and largely kept them there. Canopy Growth is no exception.

But the company has a big, muscular partner behind it -- strategic investor Constellation Brands (STZ -1.00%). The alcoholic beverages company just delivered an estimates-trouncing quarter, and it doesn't look like it'll abandon its little Canadian pot-slinging brother anytime soon. Perhaps Constellation's improvements could even have a positive knock-on effect on Canopy Growth's operations.

Break out the bubbly!

Constellation's first quarter of fiscal 2023 earnings release was impressive in a number of ways. Firstly, thanks to double-digit increases in beer sales, the company managed to lift its revenue 17% higher on a year-over-year basis to nearly $2.4 billion. Non-GAAP (adjusted) net income also improved at a double-digit rate, advancing by 10% to just under $504 million.

Both headline numbers convincingly beat the average analyst estimates. Better, even the lower end of Constellation's earnings guidance range for full-year fiscal 2023 is comfortably above the collective prognosticator forecast.

The catch with that forecast, though, is that it excludes Canopy Growth's performance. This, to put it charitably, remains discouraging. The cannabis company's revenue has largely eroded in recent quarters, and the bottom-line loss in its most recently reported frame was its deepest in a year. No prizes for guessing what's happened to the stock price.

As a result, the flailing marijuana company is quite a millstone tugging at Constellation's finances. In that otherwise fairly glowing first-quarter earnings report, the drinks maker said it's recognized a whopping $556 million in unrealized net losses since its initial Canopy Growth investment in late 2017. In the aforementioned quarter alone, Constellation booked a $22 million decrease in the fair value of the stake. 

Another way of looking at that is per-share adjusted earnings. In the first quarter, if the company didn't hold any Canopy Growth stake at all, it would have earned $2.90. With the Canadian company's equity on its books draining $0.24 from this, Constellation's final per-share adjusted bottom line was $2.66.

Good money after bad

All told, Constellation currently holds slightly over 35% of Canopy Growth, after pumping a total of around $4.5 billion into the company. Few would consider such a generous outlay on a marijuana business these days. But back in 2017, as Canada was preparing to fully legalize marijuana consumption and sale, many were eager to buy into this hot new industry.

Nobody is chasing big stakes in beaten-down weed companies anymore, so Constellation is basically stuck with its investment.

It has certainly tried to boost the value of this. In addition to that $4.5 billion spend, Constellation has also attempted to infuse Canopy Growth with some of its highest-level managerial talent. In fact, the pot company's current CEO, David Klein, is Constellation's former CFO. In addition, another beverage purveyor's seasoned executives, Mike Lee, served nearly three years as Canopy Growth's CFO.

At this point, then, there's probably a feeling of "we've done everything we can for the little guy" in Constellation's c-suite regarding Canopy Growth. I doubt there's any enthusiasm for boosting that stake at all, infusing the company with more cash that risks being burned away, or feeding its top managers who could be better utilized guiding the mothership.

So I wouldn't expect Constellation's recent overperformance to filter down into its troubled marijuana investment in any way. Instead, I believe Canopy Growth will have to get on its feet and beat a path to success on its own.