These past few months seemed as if things could not get any worse for Aurora Cannabis. The company received multiple analyst downgrades while the stock price plunged to 52-week lows of under $2 on the NYSE.
Their next earnings report which is scheduled for next week on February 10th, 2020 and it is going to be a crucial report for the company. It is going to tell investors if the company has what it takes to provide a long term plan to profitability along with combating their debt and financing issues.
Just in time for earnings season, Aurora Cannabis released some exciting news and it could not come at a better time. Aurora Cannabis received EU GMP Certification for its Aurora River Facility. This effectively increases Aurora Cannabis’s total production capacity available to serve international medical markets by 230%.
The Aurora River facility is Aurora Cannabis’s largest facility to date to receive an EU-GMP certification. This brings Aurora Cannabis’s total number of EU-GMP certified Canadian production facilities to 3.
Yesterday, something even more significant was announced — Aurora Cannabis received the green light to resume sales in Germany. This was a major issue because in December the company was suspended from pursuing cannabis sales in Germany after it had failed to obtain a permit regarding how the company used radiation to prevent microbial contamination. Shortly thereafter this mistake was announced, Chief Corporate Officer Cam Battley was let go and sent to work at MedReleaf in Australia.
Pharmacies in Germany have now been instructed to start selling Aurora Cannabis’ line of medical cannabis following the temporary suspension.
Aurora Cannabis CEO Terry Booth had some encouraging words on the recent news. “Aurora is leading the development of medical markets across Europe and around the world. The EU GMP certification of our River facility further validates our strategy focused on purpose-built facilities, designed and constructed exclusively for the production of high-quality, pharmaceutical-grade cannabis.”
He also added that, “I congratulate our team on successfully working with regulators and licensing bodies to ensure Aurora’s facilities and products are in accordance with local and international standards that will allow for greater access to the highest quality medical cannabis products to patients who need them.”
This is a very essential piece of Aurora Cannabis’s business, as the company prides itself as being the most globally diverse cannabis company with a presence in over 25 countries. Resolving their issues in Germany is extremely important as Germany is considered to be the largest cannabis market outside of North America and represents a huge opportunity for international revenue growth.
With this hiccup behind them, the company can now focus on growing revenues internationally and bringing some confidence back into investors.
This announcement is just a step in the right direction for Aurora Cannabis but we won’t see the benefit of this resumption of sales in Germany in next week’s earnings report.
(Disclosure: The author owns shares of Aurora Cannabis)
Aurora Cannabis Inc. (ACB) was trading at $2.06 per share on Tuesday morning, up $0.06 (+3.00%). Year-to-date, ACB has declined N/A%, versus a 23.82% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.
About the Author: Aaron Missere
Aaron Missere is the CEO and founder of financial media company Departures Capital Inc. He is an avid and experienced investor, with a primary focus on the cannabis industry. In addition to being a featured contributor to StockNews.com and ETFDailyNews.com, he is an author for SmarterAnalyst.com. Aaron also currently hosts a weekly show on YouTube that recaps and explains the movement in the stock market, with a heavy emphasis on marijuana stocks.