It’s been a standout year for marijuana stocks, as the Roundhill Cannabis ETF (BATS:WEED) is up by over 40% year-to-date. However, Tilray (NASDAQ:TLRY) stock is falling lower today after reporting its third quarter fiscal year (FY) 2024 earnings.
For the quarter, net revenue grew by 30% year-over-year (YOY) to $188.3 million, missing the analyst estimate of $198.3 million. Much of this revenue growth was attributed to beverage-alcohol sales, which grew by 165% to $54.7 million. Cannabis revenue totaled $63.4 million, up by 33% YOY.
Net loss improved to $105 million compared to $1.2 billion a year ago. However, Tilray’s EPS loss of 12 cents missed the analyst estimate for a loss of five cents by a wide margin.
Tilray had previously expected positive adjusted free cash flow for FY 2024. However, it no longer believes it can achieve this due to delays in collecting cash from asset sales. In addition, the company lowered its adjusted EBITDA target for the year ended May 31 to between $60 and $63 million from between $68 and $78 million.
The company is also awaiting U.S. federal marijuana legalization, like many other cannabis companies.
“In the event of federal cannabis legalization in the U.S., we believe that Tilray is well-positioned to immediately leverage its strong U.S. leadership position and strategic strengths across operations, distribution, and brands to include THC-infused products,” said Tilray.
The 5 Biggest Buyers of TLRY Stock
Tracking institutional activity is important, as these large investors provide liquidity and support for stocks. However, institutional ownership of TLRY stock declined significantly during Q4.
In total, 13F filers own 69.44 million shares of Tilray, down by 22.75% from the prior quarter. The total number of filers with ownership of the company fell by nine to 338.
Hedge funds, a subset of 13F filers, also appeared bearish. The total number of shares owned by hedge funds declined by 62.31% to 15.48 million shares from 41.08 million shares. This was largely attributed to Hudson Bay Capital Management selling out of its entire stake of 16.18 million shares and Millennium Management selling 9.84 million shares.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at Tilray’s top buyers during Q4:
- Susquehanna added 3.32 million shares, bringing its position to 7.19 million shares.
- Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) added three million shares, bringing its position to 3.4 million shares.
- Maxi Investments added 1.25 million shares after previously owning zero shares.
- Alyeska Investment Group added 1.01 million shares, bringing its position to 1.68 million shares.
- Point72 added 620,700 shares, bringing its position to 2.36 million shares.
On the date of publication, Eddie Pan did not hold (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
