Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) is one of the most popular pot stocks in the market today. Yet perhaps it shouldn’t be.
So says MKM Partners analyst Bill Kirk, who cut his rating on Aurora Cannabis from neutral to sell on Friday. He sees the weed producer’s stock price falling to $7.09. If he’s right, shareholders could suffer losses of roughly 46% from Aurora’s current price near $13.15.
Investors should sell Aurora Cannabis stock, according to MKM Partners analyst Bill Kirk. Image source: Getty Images.
Kirk is concerned about the 17% sequential decline in Aurora’s consumer cannabis net revenue in the second quarter. He also notes that Aurora failed to deliver on its promise of positive adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). „We don’t see a cost-cutting or growth path that gets to near-term positive EBITDA,” Kirk said.
Moreover, with the Canadian market already oversupplied with cannabis, Kirk cautions that Aurora’s plan to shift toward higher-priced premium offerings could prove challenging.
For his part, CEO Miguel Martin highlighted Aurora’s reduced cash losses in the company’s earnings release. The marijuana maker burned through 74% less cash in the second quarter than it did in the year-ago period, though at $70.5 million, this figure is still concerning.
But Martin notes that Aurora still has $565 million in cash reserves. He also believes that the company’s cost-cutting will help to „drive significant cash flow in the coming quarters.”
For today at least, investors appear to be siding with Kirk. Aurora’s stock price was down 9% as of 2:33 p.m. EST.