What happened
Canadian cannabis company Tilray Brands (TLRY 0.59%) was quite the stock market riser Wednesday morning, ascending by nearly 8% at one point in early trading. That was on the back of good news regarding one big overseas market for the company. But the investor euphoria didn't last, and ultimately the share price reversed course to end the day more than 3% lower.
So what
Tilray happily announced early Wednesday that its medical marijuana unit, Tilray Medical, has won approval from the government of Poland to sell its therapeutic weed in the Central European country. The company's product will be sold throughout Poland, a relatively populous country for its region with slightly more than 38 million inhabitants, via a network of pharmaceutical partner companies.
As it tends to have higher margins despite a far more limited customer base, medical marijuana has been a priority for the Canadian cannabis company. According to Tilray, Tilray Medical supplies its goods to 21 countries located in five continents.
Of the business unit's future, Tilray quoted its chief strategy officer and head of international business Denise Faltischeck as saying that her company "will continue to advocate for reasonable patient access to reliable and high-quality medical cannabis in Europe and countries around the world."
Tilray did not provide any estimates for the new market's impact on its fundamentals.
Now what
The Poland deal is a nice add-on to Tilray's business, for sure, but again, the medical marijuana market is limited -- even in a big-for-its-area country. The recreational segment is where the big customer numbers are, since sales aren't limited by prescription and dosage. Unfortunately for Tilray, it has far more competition and faces rather daunting challenges to even the best operators, particularly in Canada. This was probably on the minds of investors following the bullish post-Poland pop.
