Terra Tech Drops After Earnings Results Disappoint Investors

Terra Tech Corp. (TRTCD) delayed its earnings announcement from Thursday to Friday following the market close. On Friday the stock closed $3.77, but then on Monday after the investors digested the news, the stock fell to a close of $3.24 and then slipped further to $3.20 on Tuesday.

Full-year revenues for 2017  increased 41% to $35.80 million over 2016’s $25.33 million. Total revenues for the fourth quarter ending in December increased 54% to $11.01 million over last year’s $7.13 million for the same time period.

Terra Tech delivered a net loss of $32.68 for 2017, which was an increase over last year’s loss of $26.72 million. In a company statement, the loss was blamed on “an increase in sales, general and administrative expenses from the opening of the new dispensaries, an increase in the amortization of debt discount, an increase in loss on the extinguishment of debt, an increase in loss on fair market valuation of derivatives, an increase in loss on fair market valuation of contingent consideration offset by a gain on settlement of contingent consideration in the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to the prior year.” The loss per share for 2017 was ($0.71) versus last year’s loss of ($1.04).

Expenses for the year amounted to approximately $25.36 million, compared to approximately $20.72 million for the year ended December 31, 2016.

Management Comments

Derek Peterson, Chief Executive Officer of Terra Tech said, “The rapid growth of the legal cannabis market, coupled with our aggressive expansion strategy, has led to Terra Tech’s emergence as a pre-eminent retail and wholesale cannabis company in the United States. Our strategy to establish our Blüm and IVXX brands as premium cannabis experiences in targeted states set the foundation for the Company to quickly expand into the adult use market when Nevada welcomed legalization in July 2017, followed by California in January 2018. These regulatory milestones significantly expanded our addressable market and transformed the Company’s potential growth path.”

Terra Tech has $5.45 million in cash as of December 31, 2017. Subsequent to the quarter end, the company announced that it has secured a $40 million investment commitment, to be made in eight tranches of $5 million over 24 months.

Reverse Split

On March 13, the company conducted a 1:15 reverse split that was originally approved last year. As a result of this, the stock also changed its CUSIP number and the stock symbol was changed from TRTC to TRTCD.

The company said in its filing, “Although we believe that a higher market price of our common stock may help generate greater or broader investor interest, there can be no assurance that the reverse stock split will result in a share price that will attract new investors, including institutional investors. In addition, there can be no assurance that the market price of our common stock will satisfy the investing requirements of those investors. As a result, the trading liquidity of our common stock may not necessarily improve.”