Nasdaq News

Brazilian credit bureau Boa Vista SCPC filed for an initial public offering with the country's securities industry regulator CVM, according to documents on the regulator website.

Syrian air defences intercepted Israeli missiles over Quneitra province in the country's southwest, state media reported early on Thursday.

The coronavirus outbreak continues to wreak havoc globally. Increasing number of infected cases outside mainland China has made it a serious concern to global economic growth. The virus has now spread to around 81 countries and territories around the world, claiming 3,203 lives

Align Technology (NASDAQ: ALGN) is buying a private company based in Germany called exocad Global Holdings for approximately 376 million euros ($419 million). exocad sells dentistry-related software for computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) in over 150 cou

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Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.07 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.06 per share. This compares to break-even earnings per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group Inc has restricted travel for its employees, as the threat from the global coronavirus outbreak continues to rise, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

(RTTNews) - The Malaysia stock market has finished higher in back-to-back trading days, advancing almost 25 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index now rests just beneath the 1,490-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Thursday.

Editas Medicine (NASDAQ: EDIT) and Allergan (NYSE: AGN) announced on Wednesday morning that they had just treated the first patient with Editas' flagship drug candidate EDIT-101 as part of the Brilliance phase 1/2 clinical trial. The new experimental gene-editing drug targets a

Toymaker Mattel (NASDAQ: MAT) has flipped the script, so to speak, on criticism that its Barbie brand of dolls has portrayed women in a way that devalues them.

Barely one week after Arkansas' medical marijuana dispensary licensing machinery was turned off due to a judge's order, it can now be switched on again. A halt in mandatory licensing activity ordered by Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen is over, after Griffen dismisse

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday published a new figure for the estimated mortality rate of COVID-19, the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2. The 3.4% mortality rate announced by the United Nations' public health arm is well above previous estimates for the novel coron

Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC) is turning off the lights in a pair of its facilities in Canada. The company announced after market hours Wednesday that it is shuttering the greenhouses, both located in the western province of British Columbia, in a move that will eliminate roughly 50

Amazon.com Inc should stop third-party sellers from price gouging for items like Purell hand sanitizer as people seek to protect themselves from the coronavirus, U.S. Senator Edward Markey said in a letter to the online retailer on Wednesday.

One of the things that has attracted me to Aurora Cannabis (ACB) for some time has been its decision to forego giving up control of the company as Canopy Growth (CGC) has done, which eventually resulted in Constellation Brands taking control of Canopy, while changing its business model.

With Aurora under pressure because of the problems associated with the Canadian cannabis market, especially the snails pace of awarding licensing and opening retail outlets, resulting in too much supply because Aurora and others had based production capacity built-out, to a major degree, on hundreds more stores being opened by now.

In this article we'll look at whether or not Aurora should, or will be forced to, give up control of the company in order to support long-term operations and growth, or even if it will be able to attract a suitor now that the Canadian cannabis market has temporarily collapsed.

Understanding the Canadian problem

It's obvious as to the basic failure of the Canadian governments in regard to the licensing process and the serious lack of retail cannabis stores to sell product in. What isn't understood as much are the various elements of the business and market and how they've been impacted by this.

For example, the black market continues to flourish and defend its lower prices because in the major Ontario and Quebec markets they have almost no competition from the legal cannabis market. Because companies have limitations associated with the inability to scale because of so few stores, they can't compete on price with illegal producers and sellers.

Another factor is it limits the potential to attract many new customers that may want to give cannabis a try for the first time. It also undermines the potential of derivatives because of the lack of retail outlets.

Can or will Aurora seek out an investment partner

Watching the terrible impact of Canopy Growth's under performance on the earnings of Constellation Brands, it's going to be difficult for Aurora to attract a large suitor if that's what it decides to do.

On the other hand, the plummet in the valuation of the company makes it much less expensive to take a significant position in, if a company wants to enter the cannabis sector with one of the largest producers in the world as its partner.

I think a major problem here is that those that have been impressed with Aurora, have been so because of its independence and willingness to take risks. If it changes direction and gets a cash infusion in exchange for basically losing control of the company, it will no longer be as attractive over the long haul, once the cannabis market reverses direction.

At the same time, it will need more capital going forward, so it will have to decide what direction it wants to take to cover its expenses as it and the cannabis market go through growing pains.

As mentioned earlier, the company isn't near as attractive as it was about a year ago, and it's questionable whether or not it can attract a company that wants to invest in it.

For that reason, making a deal with a distribution partner or partners may be a better route to take as long as it can raise additional capital.

Conclusion

Personally, I think Aurora Cannabis can continue to go it alone if it chooses to, although it will require it to find ways to improve its balance sheet.

The other challenge is the lack of progress in Canada has created an issue concerning what I call demand discovery, by which I mean there is no way of knowing the size of the legal cannabis market demand in Canada until hundreds of more cannabis stores and dispensaries are operational; that makes it hard to plan for future production capacity management.

As with all the cannabis producers located in Canada, Aurora Cannabis has an important piece of the business puzzle outside of its control, and based upon past performance of the various Canadian governments, this isn't inspirational for near-term prospects for the company.

Aurora still has among the best cost per gram and has been able to be among the top five recreational sellers in Canada based upon price. It also has a strong presence in international markets that it has just started to tap the potential growth in.

The key will be securing more operating capital in order for the market to work out the challenges the company now faces. If it manages to do that, it's still my favorite for long-term performance in the sector.

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Australia's competition regulator said on Thursday it would not appeal the Federal Court's decision that the proposed merger between TPG Telecom and a unit of Britain's Vodafone Group would not substantially lessen competition.

(RTTNews) - The South Korea stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 70 points or 3.6 percent along the way. The KOSPI now rests just beneath the 2,060-point plateau and it figures to extend its gains on Thursday.

Australia's Treasury Department estimates the coronavirus will subtract at least half a percentage point off growth in the first quarter of 2020, but it said it is too early to make a longer-term assessment of the impact of the virus.

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