{"id":452,"date":"2021-08-13T12:54:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T12:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/CBMiTGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJhcnJvbnMuY29tL2FydGljbGVzL21hcmlqdWFuYS1zYWxlcy1ncmVlbi10aHVtYi1jZW8tNTE2Mjg4MTI3NDLSAVBodHRwczovL3d3dy5iYXJyb25zLmNvbS9hbXAvYXJ0aWNsZXMvbWFyaWp1YW5hLXNhbGVzLWdyZWVuLXRodW1iLWNlby01MTYyODgxMjc0Mg"},"modified":"2021-08-13T12:54:00","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T12:54:00","slug":"marijuana-sales-are-surging-green-thumb-ceo-says-heres-why-barrons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thcinct.com\/?p=452","title":{"rendered":"Marijuana Sales Are Surging, Green Thumb CEO Says. Here’s Why. – Barron’s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Ben Kovler, founder and CEO of Green Thumb Industries<\/h4>\n

Patrick T. Fallon\/Bloomberg <\/span> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

American cannabis firm Green Thumb Industries<\/a> <\/span> earlier this week reported positive net income for its fourth-straight quarter. CEO Ben Kovler told Barron\u2019s<\/em> the secret to rising sales was simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican consumers are choosing cannabis for well-being,\u201d Kovler said, \u201cand that\u2019s driving a surge in this industry\u2014not growth, it\u2019s a surge.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Chicago-based firm after the market closed on Wednesday reported second quarter net income of $22.1 million, or 10 cents a share. Analysts had been forecasting earnings of eight cents a share. Sales of $221.9 million were up 14.1% from the first quarter and beat consensus estimates at $207.5 million. Kovler notes that in the U.S., industrywide second-quarter retail sales were $6 billion, implying $24 billion annualized.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a $24 billion industry that we think is easily going to triple,\u201d Kovler said. \u201cThat\u2019s wild. That doesn\u2019t really happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Green Thumb stock (ticker: GTBIF) jumped 3.5% on Thursday, the first trading session after the report. American cannabis exchange-traded fund AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF<\/a> <\/span> (MSOS) closed down 0.6%. Green Thumb is the largest holding in the ETF, which is actively managed. Chief Operating Officer and portfolio manager Dan Ahrens wrote in an emailed statement after the report that Green Thumb exceeded even aggressive analyst expectations.<\/p>\n

He added that the firm is \u201crapidly growing sales and revenue, profitability, and a strong cash balance sheet\u2014which are all quite different than more well known CANADIAN cannabis companies as a group, that released mediocre earnings in the past 2 weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Barron\u2019s<\/em> wrote that Canadian cannabis companies have disappointed eager investors<\/a> despite such companies\u2019 easier access to capital via listings on senior U.S. exchanges. Though American cannabis companies can\u2019t list on the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq because cannabis is illegal at the federal level, firms like Green Thumb have produced profitable operations.<\/p>\n

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