Staff
Cannabis technology company Akerna (Nasdaq: KERN) announced financial results for its quarter ending September 30, 2020 with revenue rising 16% to $3.7 million over last year’s $3.1 million for the same time period. Akerna missed the Yahoo Finance average analyst estimate for revenue of $4.49 million.
The net losses jumped to $4.7 million over last year’s net loss of $2.3 million. The net loss per share was ($0.34), which missed the Yahoo Finance average analyst estimate of ($0.28).
“I’m thrilled to report we achieved 40% year-over-year software revenue growth in this quarter and have increased our total SaaS ARR by 44% over this same time last year,” said Jessica Billingsley, CEO of Akerna. “Looking forward, we are entering a period of massive market expansion. Five new states have approved cannabis via ballot measure in the recent election potentially representing approximately $18M in new TAM for our software and services offerings, and many more states and countries have legislative initiatives proposed over the coming months. Our scaled ecosystem is uniquely positioned to capture these opportunities, with the most robust cannabis technology suite available.”
The company reported that its adjusted EBITDA was ($3.0 million), compared to ($2.2 million) for the period ending September 30, 2019. Cash was $14.3 million as of September 30, 2020
In a statement the company highlighted that its average new MJ Platform orders were up 94% year over year, MJ Platform transaction volume was up 181% year over year, retail order volume rose 68% year over year and retail order values were up 127% year over year. The company said it had a new bookings ARR of $1.2 million.
Akerna recently closed on a $12 million offering which the company said it intended to use for funding its growth initiatives, including product development, sales and marketing, strategic acquisitions, working capital, and general corporate purposes. At the time, investors were upset and the stock sold off. However, the shares began to rally again at the beginning of November, but this earnings miss has caused the shares to be trimmed in price again.
