Last week, The Valens Company (TSX: VLNS) reported their third-quarter results. Revenues were stable quarter over quarter at $18.1 million, barely below the consensus of $18.4 million. The results were above Stifel’s estimate of $17.7 million but a notable miss from Raymond James estimate of $19.9 million. Valens had a $504 thousand write down this quarter compared to the $1.5 million in inventory write-downs they took during the second quarter of 2020.
Andrew Partheniou of Stifel headlines “In-line Q3FY20 – still early innings for VLNS.” Valens launched eight new products between vapes and concentrates during this quarter, but Partheniou says that now the focus has moved to fulfilling retail demand and capturing market share. Partheniou adds that Valens vape offerings account for 4 out of the top 15 brands in the Ontario market in dollar terms, for the period ending in September. He says, “matched with management indicating provincial orders are accelerating from initial smaller orders, we are encouraged by the company’s early progress thus far.”
Partheniou comments that Valens is “remaining conservative on tolling demand” as the fall harvest is currently happening. He expects some seasonal demand to come back to Valens tolling services. Still, he remains warry as companies have bad balance sheets, and Valens is trying not to take on every co’s tolling agreement due to their risk aversion policy.
Partheniou says that input prices might go lower with the harvest of outdoor crops and adds, “we envision VLNS benefitting from this years’ outdoor harvest through higher margins. Nevertheless, this may take some time to flow through the company’s P&L as it works through its roughly ~6 months of inventory.”
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Stifel reiterated their C$3.75 price target and buy rating on Valens.
In Raymond James’ note, Rahul Sarugaser reiterated the same idea’s and comments as Partheniou did. Still, one thing Sarugaser pointed out that wasn’t in Stifel’s note was that Valens new facility “K2” is being brought online, which will be a short term cash drain as commissioning is performed. Start-up inefficiencies tend to happen when new facilities are starting for the first time.
Raymond James has a C$3.50 price target and a market perform rating on Valens.
Information for this briefing was found via Sedar and Refinitiv. The author has no securities or affiliations related to this organization. Not a recommendation to buy or sell. Always do additional research and consult a professional before purchasing a security. The author holds no licenses.
