Tilray Inc. shares rose about 5% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the Canadian weed maker topped consensus revenue estimates by nearly tripling sales, but lost more money than analysts expected.
The company reported first-quarter net losses of $30.3 million, or 32 cents a share, widening from $5.2 million, or 7 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Tilray’s TLRY, +4.88% revenue rose to $23 million from $7.8 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had estimated losses of 25 cents a share on revenue of $20.5 million. For the second quarter, analysts model losses of 25 cents a share on sales of $42.2 million.
Chief Executive Brendan Kennedy told MarketWatch over the phone that while there was a widespread prediction of a supply glut of cannabis in Canada, that has not turned out to be the case. In fact, Tilray continues to have difficulty sourcing an adequate amount of high-quality marijuana.
“Ten years from now, I want Tilray to grow 5% of the product,” Kennedy said.
Tilray said it sold $7.9 million worth of recreational marijuana in the first quarter, and $7.8 million worth of medical cannabis — directly to patients and in bulk.
In the short term, Tilray is ramping up its growing capacity, and Kennedy pointed to its build outs at facilities in Canada and outdoor operations in Portugal. But he expects supply issues to remain a problem in Canada for the next 18 to 24 months.
Overall, the company sold the equivalent of 3,012 kilograms of pot, a metric that Kennedy called strange. He predicted that after edibles sales begin in Canada, the number of kilograms sold would become irrelevant to investors.
“It’s an emerging sector, and you’re going to see metrics change,” he said.
For the first time as a public company Tilray also broke out precisely how much excise tax revenue it paid — excluding the figure, it banked $21.5 million in first-quarter sales.
“We heard the feedback [from investors] and looked at how everyone else was reporting,” Kennedy said when asked about disclosing revenue net of excise taxes, as most Canadian cannabis companies have been doing.
Tilray stock has fallen 37% in the past three months, as the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.80% has gained 2.4%. The Horizons Marijuana Life Sciences Index ETF has lost 2.3% in the past three months.
