Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Tilray's First Quarter 2020 Earnings Conference Call. Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us on Tilray's first quarter 2020 earnings conference call and webcast. On with me today are Brendan Kennedy, Chief Executive Officer; and Michael Kruteck, Chief Financial Officer.

Tilray (TLRY) saw a big move last session, as its shares jumped more than 6% on the day, amid huge volumes.

Tilray, Inc. ("Tilray" or "the Company") (NASDAQ: TLRY), a global pioneer in cannabis research, cultivation, production and distribution, today announced its wholly-owned subsidiary High Park Gardens ("Natura Naturals Inc.") will close its doors over the course of the next six weeks. As a result of the closure, the Company expects to realize annualized net savings of approximately $7.5 million (current production costs net of future 3rd party purchases and ongoing depreciation) and avoid significant ongoing capital expenditures.

Tilray, Inc. ("Tilray" or the "Company") (NASDAQ: TLRY), a global pioneer in cannabis research, cultivation, production and distribution, today announced its wholly-owned subsidiary Tilray Portugal, Unipessoal Lda. ("Tilray Portugal") has received a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification in accordance with European Union standards, for its manufacturing facility in Cantanhede, Portugal. The GMP certification was issued by Infarmed, the Portuguese National Authority of Medicines and Health Products which provides end-to-end GMP certification for Tilray’s current operations in Portugal.

The cannabis company managed to narrow its net loss on a quarter-over-quarter basis, but that loss was still considerable.

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Tilray Inc (NASDAQ: TLRY) reported stable first-quarter results Monday, beating expectations across key metrics.Given this performance and upbeat management commentary around the COVID-19 impact on sales in the Canadian cannabis industry, the pressure on the company's stock is surprising, according to Cantor Fitzgerald.The Tilray Analyst Pablo Zuanic maintained a Neutral rating for Tilray and raised the price target from $7 to $8.The Tilray Thesis Tilray reported first-quarter sales of $52.1 million, ahead of the consensus estimate of $49.3 million and driven largely by its hemp foods business, Zuanic said in a Monday note. (See his track record here.)COVID-induced stockpiling and new listings and promos at Costco Wholesale Corporation (NASDAQ: COST) resulted in better-than-expected growth in the cannabis business, the analyst said. While sales of recreational cannabis grew 23% sequentially, the domestic medical cannabis business grew 21%. International cannabis sales bounced back after a decline in the previous quarter.Tilray exited the March quarter with $174 million in cash versus $97 million at the end of fiscal 2019.View more earnings on TLRYTilray continues to expect the Canadian recreational market to double in 2020, although the coronavirus may negatively impact store openings, Zuanic said. The company maintained its margin and cash flow targets for the year. Given the first-quarter beat and upbeat commentary, it's surprising that the stock ended Monday's trading down by 6%, the analyst said. TLRY Price Action Shares of Tilray were down 3.74% at $7.78 at the time of publication Tuesday.Related Links:Tilray Shares Fall On Q1 ResultsCannabis Stock Gainers And Losers From May 4, 2020Latest Ratings for TLRY DateFirmActionFromTo May 2020StifelMaintainsHold May 2020Cantor FitzgeraldMaintainsNeutral May 2020Cantor FitzgeraldMaintainsNeutral View More Analyst Ratings for TLRY View the Latest Analyst Ratings See more from Benzinga * ViacomCBS Subscription Numbers Make Barrington Bullish * Agricultural Chemical Companies Had A Good Start To 2020, And BofA Says It's Over * Constellation Brands Has 'Very Real' Beverage Production Risks, MKM Says In Downgrade(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

As most of North America goes back to work following shutdowns due to the coronavirus outbreak, one sector that survived the economic weakness was the cannabis sector. The sector was generally seen as essential by various governments due to the medical cannabis aspect while other retailers were forced to close.The Canadian cannabis sector continues to see sales grow as more retail stores are opened and Cannabis 2.0 products are rolled out. For January/February, sales were roughly C$150 million per month. The country is now on the pace to top C$2 billion in annual sales this year.In April, the sector now has 1.5x the number of retail stores as recently as November with more stores on the way in the key province of Ontario. In addition, the Cannabis 2.0 rollout continues to provide another boost to sales.The bigger question for the sector was liquidity as financial markets became less willing to lend to firms in a developing market such as cannabis with the onset of a recession. Yet, despite weak access to affordable capital, the strong sector sales set up the players with excess cash to survive and thrive in this period. We’ve delved into these Canadian cannabis stocks with two stocks to consider here and one to avoid. Using TipRanks’ Stock Comparison tool, we lined up the three alongside each other to get the lowdown on what the near-term holds for these cannabis players.Aphria (APHA)We will start with Aphria, a Canadian cannabis producer with a strong cash balance sheet and a solid operating business. The stock has started a solid rally off the $3 lows due to encouraging signs in the cannabis sector.The company ended the last quarter with C$600 million in cash on the balance sheet. On the negative side, Aphria did have C$465 million in debt, but the key at this point in the cycle is the liquidity while smaller competitors lack access to reasonable funding.The company made the recent deal in May to convert C$127.5 million worth of convertible debt by issuing 18.7 million shares for a conversion price of $4.84 per share. The deal saves C$6.7 million in annual interest costs.Analysts are forecasting FY20 revenues reaching $390 million followed by nearly $500 million in FY21. The stock has a market cap below $1 billion so lots of value exists here.The stock is one of the cheapest in the Canadian cannabis space and Aphria is one of only a few cannabis companies with a net cash position above C$150 million. The stock rally to $4 appears the start of extended gains as Aurora Cannabis changed the sentiment in the Canadian cannabis sector.Overall, APHA holds a Moderate Buy rating from the analyst consensus, based on 5 “buy” ratings and 2 “holds.” Shares are selling for $4.19, and the average price target of $5.45 implies about 30% upside potential. (See APHA stock analysis on TipRanks)Canopy Growth (CGC)As with a lot of sectors, the rich only got richer during the downturn. In this case, Canopy Growth saw Constellation Brands cash in warrants providing more cash for financing growth. The large Canadian cannabis company ended the December quarter with a cash hoard of C$2.26 billion and the C$245 million from the warrants will further boost the balance sheet. The biggest question for Canopy Growth is whether the new management team can drastically cut the cash burn from large EBITDA losses.The news wasn’t really surprising with the strike price at only C$12.9783 per share for 18,876,901 warrants to purchase Canopy Growth when the stock was trading above C$21.The warrants equated to 5.1% of the outstanding shares of Canopy Growth placing the Constellation Brands position up to 38.6%. The company owns warrants to purchase another 139,745,453 shares for a controlling position of 55.8%.With the extra cash, Canopy Growth remains a solid stock to own here at $18. My recommendation has recently held to pick up the stock on weakness as the company looks to grow revenues while substantially cutting the EBITDA losses from the C$92 million in the last quarter. As the company gets closer to breakeven, the stock will regain a lot of the previous interest in the cannabis space that originally drove the stock above $50. (See Canopy stock analysis on TipRanks)Tilray (TLRY)The big-name Canadian cannabis company in the opposite position is Tilray The company has limited cash and a highly unprofitable business.Tilray generated $52 million in Q1 revenues and analysts forecast Q2 revenues of ~$55 million. The big problem is the ongoing large losses. The company plans to get quarterly operating expenses down to $40 million, but Tilray only generates gross margins in the 29% range.My biggest issue is that Tilray is plugged into a lot of different business with Canadian cannabis, U.S. hemp and international operations causing the large expense base. If the company had the balance sheet of Canopy Growth or Aphria, the spending levels wouldn’t be a problem.Tilray ended March with $174 million in cash and had to raise $60 million in debt during February before completing an equity offering. Back in March, the company sold 7.25 million shares and warrants for net proceeds of $90.4 million.Analysts have Tilray losing money for the next couple of years and the market isn’t going to find money-losing cannabis stocks very appealing in this environment. Investors should watch for the Canadian cannabis company to drastically reduce the quarterly EBITDA losses after losing another $21 million in Q1. Once Tilray gets to a position where additional funds aren’t needed, the stock can be removed from the 'avoid' list.To find good ideas for cannabis stocks trading at attractive valuations, visit TipRanks’ Best Stocks to Buy, a newly launched tool that unites all of TipRanks’ equity insights.Disclosure: No position.

Aurora Cannabis spiked late Wednesday after the Canadian pot producer announced an acquisition to enter the U.S. retail CBD market for the first time.

Colorado Representative Ed Perlmutter joins Yahoo Finance’s Zack Guzman to discuss the future of cannabis in the U.S., along with his outlook on future stimulus legislation.

CALGARY , May 27, 2020 /CNW/ - Inner Spirit Holdings Ltd. ("Inner Spirit" or the "Company") (ISH.CN), a Canadian company that has established a national network of Spiritleaf retail cannabis stores, today announced Retail Operator Licences ("ROLs") have been secured for a number of franchise partners who now meet Ontario's eligibility criteria for operating cannabis outlets in the province. The ROLs were granted by the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario ("AGCO") as part of the regulator's plan to expand the number of legal cannabis retail stores in the province.

Cannabis producer Tilray Inc. said late Tuesday it planned to shut down High Park Gardens, a greenhouse it owns in Leamington, Ontario, and part of a C$70 million ($50.8 million) acquisition of Natura Naturals Holdings Inc. in 2019. Tilray shares rose 0.7% in the extended session. The company said closing the facility will save it roughly $7.5 million a year. Tilray bought the facility as part of the C$35 million ($24.4 million) acquisition of Natura Naturals in February 2019. At that time, Tilray said it was paying C$15 million in cash and C$20 million in stock with an additional C$35 million in Tilray stock over the next year if production targets were met. "The decision to close a facility is never easy but we are confident that this will immediately put Tilray in a better position to achieve our goals of driving revenues across our core businesses and working towards positive adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2020," Tilray Chief Executive Brendan Kennedy said in a statement. "We are very confident our existing operations team will continue to serve our valued patients and customers with no interruption."

Tilray was 2018's best-performing stock amid a stampede into marijuana stocks, but shares have struggled in 2019.

Canadian cannabis stock Tilray (TLRY) has announced that it is shutting High Park Gardens, a licensed cannabis greenhouse in Leamington, Ontario. As a result of the closure, Tilray hopes to save about $7.5 million per year (current production costs net of future 3rd party purchases and ongoing depreciation) and avoid “significant” ongoing capital expenditures.Tilray acquired Natura Naturals Inc, which has since operated as High Park Gardens, in 2019 in a $50.8M deal. The Ontario-based facility contains 406,000 square feet of Health Canada licensed space for cannabis cultivation and manufacturing, ands primarily serves the adult-use market in Canada.“We are continuously evaluating the evolving needs of our business, against a challenging industry backdrop, to ensure we’re in the best position to produce world-class products and deliver positive results for our stakeholders,” commented Brendan Kennedy, Tilray CEO.“The decision to close a facility is never easy but we are confident that this will immediately put Tilray in a better position to achieve our goals of driving revenues across our core businesses and working towards positive adjusted EBITDA by the end of 2020” he continued. Tilray will continue to use its existing facilities in Ontario to serve the adult-use market in Canada.Shares in Tilray have plunged 37% year-to-date, although the stock spiked 5% on May 26 after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he intends to enact marijuana legalization “in the near future.”Analysts have a very cautious outlook on Tilray, with a Hold consensus made up of 12 recent buy ratings, and 3 sell ratings vs just 1 buy rating. The average analyst price target stands at $12 (7% upside potential).MKM Partners analyst William Kirk has a hold rating on Tilray with an $8 price target (26% downside potential). He writes: “With narrower EBITDA losses than some peers and a near-term profitable opportunity in Israel, Tilray has a better chance to reach positive EBITDA.”But the analyst adds, “to achieve it: 1) topline needs to grow; 2) gross margins need to improve; and 3) absolute SG&A needs to be flat. Given the industry’s excess inventory levels, we consider this an unlikely combination of events.” (See Tilray stock analysis on TipRanks).Related News: Why Aurora Cannabis (ACB) Stock Looks Attractive Uncertainty Remains Even After Aurora’s U.S. Market Debut, Says Analyst Debenture Conversion Isn’t Enough to Offset Cash Struggles, Says Hexo Bear More recent articles from Smarter Analyst: * 3 "Strong Buy" Penny Stocks That Offer Massive Potential Gains * Logitech Shares Lifted In Pre-Market On Share Buyback Plan, 10% Dividend Boost * Billionaire Ackman Exits Berkshire Hathaway, Blackstone To Fund Opportunities * HBO Max Launches, But Not Yet Available on Amazon, Roku Platforms

CALGARY , May 13, 2020 /CNW/ - Inner Spirit Holdings Ltd. ("Inner Spirit" or the "Company") (ISH.CN), a Canadian company that has established a national network of Spiritleaf retail cannabis stores, today announced it has filed its Audited Consolidated Financial Statements (the "Financial Statements") and corresponding Management's Discussion and Analysis (the "MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2019 . The Financial Statements and MD&A are available for review on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and the Company's website at www.innerspiritholdings.com.

Aurora Cannabis stock spiked and other marijuana stocks rallied after the pot producer beat expectations and touted its efforts to cut costs.

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Canadian cannabis company Tilray's (NASDAQ: TLRY) CEO believes that at least 12 marijuana companies will go under this year. In March, Tilray announced that it would be raising $90.4 million through an offering, largely because the company still could. CEO Brendan Kennedy told BNN Bloomberg that he "wasn't sure anyone was going to be able to raise any money in this industry again" and that "when we had the opportunity to strengthen the balance sheet, we did."