Timing & trends

Tilray Surges On Reporting First Results Since Merger With Rival Aphria, Reveals $33.6M Profit In Q4

Canadian cannabis giant Tilray, Inc. (NASDAQ:TLRY) (TSX:TLRY) posted its latest financial earnings report Wednesday, touting a spike in both fourth quarter and full fiscal 2021 revenue and a proclamation from CEO Irwin D. Simon that Tilray is “leading the global cannabis industry with low cost of production, leading brands, a well-developed distribution network, and unique partnerships.”

Based in New York and Leamington, Ontario, Tilray reported the fourth quarter 2021 revenue increase of 25% to $142.2 million from $113.5 million in the prior-year quarter. Net cannabis revenue totaled $53.7 million, representing a 36% growth.

Net revenue grew by 27% to $513.1 million during 2021, from $405.3 million in 2020, driven mainly by a 55% growth in net cannabis revenue, which amounted to $201.4 million.

The company highlighted that the financial results include a full quarter of the old Aphria (through May) and one month of the old Tilray. The two Canadian cannabis companies merged in May, after months of negotiations…read more.

Starbucks on Tuesday reported soaring cold drink sales in the United States, fueling an earnings and revenue beat for the company.

But the coffee chain also warned of a slower recovery in China, its second-largest market. It lowered its full-year forecast for the country’s same-store sales growth, despite raising its overall outlook for fiscal 2021 earnings per share.

The stock fell about 3% in extended trading after hitting a 52-week high before the markets closed.

Here’s what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:

Earnings per share: $1.01 adjusted vs. 78 cents expected
Revenue: $7.5 billion vs. $7.29 billion expected
The coffee giant reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.15 billion, or 97 cents per share, up from a net loss of $678.4 million, or 58 cents per share a year earlier…read more.

Investing in EdTech – A New Canadian Opportunity

EdTech is the catch phrase often used to describe the ever-increasing use of technology, educational theories, online delivery platforms and virtual classrooms to facilitate student learning. The EdTech industry is a diverse and rapidly growing market which includes early-stage startups, middle-market companies, and more recently, publicly traded companies that are attracting significant attention from industry veterans as well as retail investors.

Benefits like increased student collaboration, 24/7 access to learning, personalized educational experiences, class management tools and paperless classrooms continue to improve. And the global education market is expected to surpass $285.2 billion by 2027 – growing at a rate of 18.1% according to Grand View Research.

One of the most recent offerings comes via veteran e-commerce ad management and automation company Adcore (TSX:ADCO). Founded in 2006 the company went public on the TSX Venture exchange in 2019 just prior to the pandemic, and despite the timing, has more than met investor expectations for world-wide growth and expansion, as evidenced by their elevation to the TSX main board in March of 2021.

On July 21st the company announced the launch of Amphy, a live, active participation platform that specializes in connecting teachers to a global audience of students. It features a broad selection of classes on topics ranging from business and language instruction, to cooking and fitness, with particularly strong emphasis on instruction for both kids and young adults.

The secret sauce for Amphy is the live, fully interactive nature of the platform. No static recordings, powerpoint slide decks or re-hashed, out of date offerings. The personal connection and personalized feedback makes for highly effective learning – correcting language pronunciation in real time, immediate feedback on a musical instrument, swapping ingredients in a cooking class, critiquing a yoga pose – examples of what can only be achieved in a live environment.

From a business model perspective Amphy employs the same philosophy as Adcore’s digital advertising platforms. Provide a outstanding user experience for clients (teachers and students), offer seamless back-end systems (payment and billing, scheduling, reminders, administration), and drive the platform using cutting edge digital technology.

Only 6 months after its beta launch the platform has 200+ teachers, offering over 800 classes in 70 different categories, being accessed and purchased by thousands of students. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback and rapid growth of the Amphy marketplace in such a short time,” explained Adcore CEO Omri Brill. “Amphy is the right product, at the right time, done the right way.”

For investors, Adcore’s commitment to support Amphy with continued capital investment, plus technical and marketing support, bodes well for their plan to become a dominant player in the live-learning market. Shareholders in Adcore now have the opportunity to participate in the rapidly expanding segments of both AdTech and EdTech – a multi-stream value driver of significant potential.

New rules have China private education firms bracing for a hit

Changes sent shockwaves across China’s $120bn private tutoring sector, leading to a huge sell-off in listed firms.

China’s private education firms are bracing for a “material” hit to their operations after Beijing announced new rules barring for-profit tutoring in core school subjects to ease financial pressures on families.

News of the rule changes on Friday, after a leaked document circulated on social media, sent shockwaves through China’s $120bn private tutoring sector and triggered a massive sell-off in the shares of companies including US-listed TAL Education Group and Gaotu Techedu.

Chinese regulators on Saturday published reforms that will fundamentally alter the business model of private firms teaching the school curriculum, as Beijing aims to overhaul a sector it says has been “hijacked by capital”. The new regulations ban firms that teach school curricula from making a profit, raising capital or going public. Regulators also said no new licences will be granted.

TAL said in its statement on Sunday that it expects the new rules to have a “material adverse impact on its after-school tutoring services … which in turn may adversely affect” its operations and prospects. It did not elaborate.

TAL’s New York-listed shares plunged 71 percent on Friday…read more.

Tesla posts record profits, offers muddy outlook for batteries, Cybertruck

Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) posted a bigger second-quarter profit than expected on Tuesday thanks to higher sales of its less-expensive electric vehicles, as it raised vehicle prices and cut costs.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, however, said a global chip shortage that led to temporary factory shutdowns for the automaker, remains serious, and offered no details on the timing of its Cybertruck and next-generation batteries.

For the first time since late 2019, Tesla profits did not rely on sales of environmental credits to other automakers, a sign of increasing financial health for the manufacturing operation.

Shares of the world’s most valuable automaker rose nearly 1% in extended trade.

In a call with investors and analysts, Tesla executives said that volume production growth for this year will depend on parts availability, as it aims to grow deliveries by more than 50%.

Musk said Tesla has “many calls at midnight, 1 a.m., just with suppliers about resolving a lot of the shortages.”…read more.