Tilray spikes more than 8% ahead of its second-quarter earnings (TLRY)

Carmen Reinicke

August 13, 2019 9:14 PM

Tilray , the Canadian cannabis company, reports second-quarter earnings Tuesday.

FILE - In this April 15, 2019, file photo, a vendor makes change for a marijuana customer at Rev-Up a cannabis marketplace in Los Angeles. An alliance of large cannabis businesses in the growing global marketplace has a message for the public: We're good corporate citizens. The 45-member Global Cannabis Partnership that includes Canopy Growth Corp. and other major companies issued guidelines Tuesday, June 18, 2019, aimed at minimizing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting ethical conduct and responsible pot use. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

Shares rose ahead of the earnings release.
Tilray's stock has tumbled nearly 80% from the all-time highs it reached in September 2018.
Watch Tilray trade live on Markets Insider.

Shares of Tilray surged more than 8% Tuesday before the company reported its second-quarter earnings, which were slated to be released after the close of trading.

Here's what analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Canadian cannabis company to report:

Adjusted loss per share: $0.26 expected
Revenue: $40.34 million expected

While it was the first cannabis company to go public in the US, its share price has slipped from a high of more than $200 last September to where it currently trades around $45.

In March, shares rose after the company reported first-quarter earnings that exceeded sales expectations but missed on the bottom line.

Analysts are wary of the company partly because it has broadened its focus from Canada to international markets a move that industry watchers have called risky.

"Tilray is NOT a story of growth in Canada or with production that really matters overall," wrote Tim Seymour, portfolio manager of the Amplify Seymour Cannabis ETF. "They are lagging the big LPs in Canada" including Canopy Growth, Aphria, Aurora and Organigram.

Other analysts agree. The Canadian adult-use market provides some opportunity for Tilray, wrote W. Andrew Carter of Stifel in a note Tuesday. However, the company "faces a later start to the Canadian second wave and still faces a lack of regulatory clarity from the FDA around CBD," Carter added.

This could keep the company from launching its US CBD products during 2019, Carter wrote.

In February, Tilray purchased Manitoba Harvest , the world's largest hemp-food company, for $318 million. Hemp is largely used because it contains cannabidiol or CBD, which is estimated to become a $16 billion market in the US by 2025. The company purchased Manitoba Harvest to develop hemp-derived CBD food and wellness products to be released in the US and Canada.

Wall Street is largely neutral on the company 11 analysts have a hold rating on the stock, two say sell, and five say to buy. The average 12-month price target is $70.00.

Shares of Tilray are down roughly 35% year-to-date.

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