Yahoo Finance Curaleaf Opens 49th Dispensary; Stock Rises Almost 8%
Curaleaf Holdings (OTC: CURLF) continues to expand its footprint with the addition of a new retail store. The company announced Monday that it has opened its latest dispensary, located in the Florida town of Port Charlotte.
The Port Charlotte outlet increases Curaleaf's dispensary count to 49. The company says it "has the largest cannabis dispensary footprint" in this country -- 26 of those 49 stores are located in Florida. Curaleaf added that the new store is the largest medical cannabis center in the town.
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In the press release trumpeting the opening of the dispensary, the company said, "It's part of our continuing effort to expand our footprint in Florida to provide patients with access to Curaleaf's premium medical cannabis products and educational resources."
Florida in particular has been targeted as a key retail market for the company. Although the state still bars recreational consumption, medical use is permitted with a prescription. Medical cannabis spending for 2018 in the state was estimated at $192 million. Yet in a state with many retirees, that number can easily go much higher. One estimate has it that that spending will rise sharply to $1.7 billion by 2022.
The educational component of the new Port Charlotte store will take the form of a series of weekly seminars on cannabinoids, the chemical compounds derived from cannabis that purportedly have a range of medicinal properties. Although these events are informational, company representatives will make themselves available for consultations on use and access with potential medical marijuana patients.
Curaleaf wrote in its press release that customers can order product online. In Florida the company delivers its goods statewide, free of charge.
Curaleaf has been one of the better-liked marijuana stocks lately. Like numerous peers, it has shown significant revenue growth -- its recently reported Q2 of fiscal 2019 revealed that revenue more than tripled on a year-over-year basis during the period. But the company is spending significant amounts of capital to build scale, both in terms of products and retail footprint. This, plus other factors, has deepened its bottom-line loss.
In the press release about the Port Charlotte dispensary, the company did not provide any information about the store's costs or anticipated financial contribution to the company.
In spite of that, investors seem pleased that Curaleaf continues to expand. The stock closed nearly 8% higher on the day, landing at $7.59 per share.
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Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
This article was originally published on Fool.com
