Fire and Flower is our top cannabis pick, AltaCorp Capital says

With a slew of new retail stores opening, AltaCorp Capital analyst David Kideckel says now is the right time to be buying Fire and Flower (Fire and Flower Stock Quote, Chart, News TSX:FAF).

On Monday, Fire and Flower announced that with the addition of nine new cannabis stores in Alberta it had reached a total of 46 open and operating locations.

“Fire & Flower is committed to delivering on the targets that we have provided to our shareholders and reaching 45 cannabis retail stores several weeks in advance of when we had anticipated to reach this target is a clear demonstration of our discipline in achieving our goals,” CEO Trevor Fencott said. “Achieving this aggressive goal is a testament to our deep retail experience and strong management team. As the cannabis industry continues to face headwinds, Fire & Flower is well positioned to continue to achieve growth and demonstrate leadership in the category.”

In a research update to clients Monday, Kideckel maintained his “Speculative Buy” rating and one-year price target of $2.80 on Fire and Flower, a figure that implied a return of 169 per cent at the time of publication.

“FAF is our top pick in the Canadian Cannabis Retail sector. Due to current market conditions related to packaging and marketing restrictions, as well as a still developing retail network in Canada, we believe retailers have a better profitability outlook and higher bargaining power compared to LPs. Among Canadian retailers, we believe FAF is best-positioned due to its partnership with the global retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard (ATD.B-T, NR), which we believe will support Fire & Flower’s rapid retail expansion strategy.

Kideckel thinks FAF will post Adjusted EBITDA of $4.7-million on revenue of $127.8-million in fiscal 2020.

“Overall, we view this announcement as positive, since FAF has achieved the milestone ahead of its previously published guidance of 45 retail cannabis stores and ahead of previously published ACCe of 41 stores by the end of Q4/FY19e (ending February 1, 2020),” the analyst added. “FAF remains our top pick in the Canadian cannabis retail space.”