Markets

Aurora Cannabis' earnings surge by 2,800% after it produces 11,000 pounds of pot in 3 months

Key Points
  • Earnings attributable to common shareholder surged 2,862 percent to CA$104.2 million, while total revenue was CA$29.7 million.
  • With the Canadian Cannabis Act in effect as of Oct. 17, 2018, Aurora completed its first shipments to adult-use wholesalers just prior to the end of the current quarter.
  • It sold 2,676 kilograms of cannabis — roughly 5,900 pounds — in the quarter, up 201 percent from this time last year.
Matthew Staver | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Aurora Cannabis said revenue jumped 260 percent over the last 12 months, with kilograms produced climbing to 4,996 — more than 11,000 pounds of cannabis — from 1,010 over the past year. That's up nearly 400 percent.

Earnings attributable to common shareholder surged 2,862 percent to CA$104.2 million, while total revenue was CA$29.7 million.

The Canadian-traded Aurora shares rose slightly on Monday and have doubled in the last one year. U.S- traded shares of Aurora, which launched on the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 23, lost 3.8 percent.

The company said its gross margin on cannabis rose 12 percent compared with the first quarter of 2019 and is now at 70 percent. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by a higher average selling price per gram of dried cannabis, coupled with a higher proportion of cannabis oil sales.

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Cash cost to produce per gram of dried cannabis sold decreased 22.5 percent year over year and fell 14.7 percent from the prior quarter thanks to more efficient production implemented at one of the company's subsidiaries.

With the Canadian Cannabis Act in effect as of Oct. 17, 2018, Aurora completed its first shipments to Canadian provincial wholesalers of the adult-use market just prior to the end of the current quarter and recorded $0.6 million in adult-use cannabis sales.

"We continue to successfully execute our differentiated and diversified strategy committed towards domestic and international expansion in the medical cannabis market, adult consumer use sales, production scale-up, innovation, plant and medical research, and product development," said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora. "Given the strong unmet consumer demand evident across Canada, we are confident that our rapidly increasing production capacity will result in continued acceleration of revenue growth."

The company saw its average price per gram (including both bud and oil) inch slightly lower to CA$9.19, down from CA$9.20 in the prior quarter. It sold 2,676 kilograms of cannabis — roughly 5,900 pounds — in the quarter, up 201 percent from this time last year.

Aside from the raw financial numbers, Aurora highlighted the launch of Aurora Cloud in the first fiscal quarter of 2019, making it the first licensed producer supplying a vape-ready CBD oil cartridge to the market.

It also underscored the completed acquisition of MedReleaf, a research-and-development-heavy company devoted to developing top-quality cannabis.

The addition of MedReleaf beefs up Aurora's total funded capacity to more than 500,000 kilograms per year. Combined with MedReleaf, Aurora now has two production facilities certified by the European Union's good manufacturing practice, or GMP, a regulatory requirement for medicine manufacturers.

The company's earnings call is set for 10:30 a.m. ET.

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