Jushi Holdings Inc. (JUSH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. My name is Rochelle, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Jushi Holdings Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Trent Woloveck, Co-Chief Strategy Director. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us today on Jushi's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Trent Woloveck, and I am the Co-Chief Strategy Director at Jushi Holdings Inc. With me on today's call are Jim Cacioppo, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Michelle Mosier, our Chief Financial Officer; and Jon Barack, our President and Chief Revenue Officer. This call is also being broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the company's website at ir.jushico.com. In addition to the company's GAAP results, management will also provide supplementary results on a non-GAAP basis. Please refer to the press release issued today for a detailed reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP results, which can be accessed from the Investor Relations section of the company's website. Additionally, we would like to remind you that during this conference call, we will make forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives, future performance, and business. Although Jushi believes our estimates and assumptions to be reasonable, they are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond our control and may prove to be inaccurate. We caution you that actual results may differ materially from any future performance suggested in the company's forward-looking statements. The risk factors that may affect actual results are detailed in Jushi's Form 10-K and other periodic filings and registration statements, which may be accessed via EDGAR and SEDAR as well as the Investor Relations section of our website. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this call, and Jushi expressly disclaims any obligation to update this forward-looking information. I will now turn the call over to Jim.

Thank you, Trent. Thank you, everyone, for joining our call today. This afternoon, I will begin with a high-level review of our third quarter financial performance and the key drivers of our results. I will then discuss our preparations for adult-use sales in Virginia, along with our corporate initiatives and key regulatory developments before turning the call over to Michelle for a detailed financial review. Beginning with our financial results, third quarter revenue increased by $4.8 million or 7.3% to $70.5 million compared to $65.7 million in the prior year quarter. This was our second consecutive quarter with revenue above $70 million, supported by continued wholesale growth and higher retail sales in Ohio and Virginia. Wholesale revenue increased 40% year-over-year to an all-time quarterly record of $9.7 million compared with $6.9 million in the prior year quarter. This marked our second consecutive quarter of record wholesale revenue, exceeding $9 million in each quarter. This growth reflects our continued expansion into new third-party dispensaries and an increase of 44 additional dispensaries purchasing our products year-over-year, strengthening relationships with wholesale partners and improved product availability, allowing us to reach more patients and consumers across our markets. These results reflect stronger execution across sales, cultivation, and manufacturing, where the wholesale revenue increases were across all markets, with the exception of Nevada, where sales remained relatively flat. In Massachusetts, higher production volumes supported greater product availability and increased bulk sales. In Virginia, we have increased our cultivation canopy with an additional flowering room now operational, while in Pennsylvania, improvements to our existing facility over the last year have increased productive cultivation capacity by converting an underutilized flowering room into 3 more efficient rooms. The Pennsylvania results are particularly encouraging given the maturity of its medical market. In Ohio, we believe enforcement of Ohio's intoxicating hemp restrictions benefited both our wholesale and retail business. Together with continued improvements in harvest yields, product quality, and product diversity, these investments are supporting higher production volumes and greater product availability across our wholesale and retail channels. Retail revenue increased 3.5% year-over-year to $60.8 million compared with $58.8 million in the prior year quarter. Retail units sold increased 8.4% and transactions increased 4.5%, while lower average selling prices continue to weigh on revenue growth. Ohio was the largest contributor to retail growth, supported by our newer dispensaries and higher unit volumes. We also believe the state's restrictions on intoxicating hemp products and related enforcement are helping direct demand toward licensed operators. That dynamic is particularly relevant as we continue to develop both our retail and wholesale presence in the market. Virginia achieved an all-time quarterly retail sales record for the second consecutive quarter, with revenue increasing 7.6% year-over-year, reflecting growth across all 6 of our dispensaries. Home delivery in Virginia also reached a new quarterly high. These results reinforce the strength of our existing medical business as we prepare for the transition to adult use. Our Little Ferry, New Jersey dispensary, which opened in the fourth quarter of 2025 also contributed to retail growth. These gains were partially offset by lower revenue in Massachusetts, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and California. Gross profit increased $1.7 million to $32.3 million or 45.9% of revenue compared with $30.7 million or 46.7% in the prior year quarter. While gross profit dollars increased year-over-year, gross profit margin declined approximately 80 basis points. Higher sales volumes, particularly in Ohio retail, were the primary driver of gross profit growth. Continued improvements in production efficiency and product costs helped offset the impact of lower average selling prices and competitive pricing pressure across certain markets. Adjusted EBITDA increased to $13.6 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 19.3% compared with $12.8 million or 19.5% in the prior year quarter. Importantly, this increase was achieved with lower employee retention credit income, which was approximately $108,000 this quarter compared with $790,000 in the prior year quarter. Turning to the federal tax framework. The third quarter was our first full quarter following the April 28 rescheduling of qualifying state licensed medical cannabis to Schedule III. That change removed the Section 280E deduction disallowance for qualifying medical cannabis activities and remains an important development for our business. The Treasury Department and the IRS have now made Section 280E cannabis tax guidance an official priority for 2026 and 2027, with resources being devoted to the issue during the federal fiscal year running from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027. We continue to monitor that process closely, including the potential implications for prior taxable years. Our DEA registration process also continues to advance. Inspections of our retail and grower processing facilities are in process, and our teams have had positive interactions and productive conversations with the agency. We remain focused on working constructively through the registration process. Turning to Virginia. We are preparing for the commencement of adult-use sales on July 1, 2027. We believe this represents a significant long-term growth opportunity for Jushi and Virginia remains a top priority for investment across our grower processor footprint. As an existing medical cannabis operator, we expect to transition into the adult-use market under the dual-use provisions of Virginia's new cannabis legislation, which allow licensed medical operators to serve both medical patients and adult-use consumers. This transition requires a $10 million conversion fee, which we expect to pay in installments over a 3-year period. We anticipate regulations will be in place in early 2027 and look forward to completing the application process so that we are prepared to serve adult-use consumers when sales commence. We believe Virginia has the potential to become a multibillion-dollar state-regulated cannabis market compared with the approximately $180 million in annual medical sales today. Estimates discussed during the legislative process pointed to an approximately $3 billion unregulated market outside of the license system. Given expected demand and the time required to add cultivation capacity, we believe supply could become constrained for the first 24 to 36 months following the adult-use launch. Our expansion plans are designed to help us meet the expected demand. We are advancing 3 cultivation expansion projects. Together, we expect these projects to increase annual harvests from approximately 29 in 2025 to 115 or more in the first full year after all 3 expansions are completed and operating at an annualized run rate. This would represent an approximately 300% increase in the annual harvest. The first project is the expansion of our existing indoor cultivation facility with 2 additional flowering rooms, one of which is already complete, together with hydrocarbon extraction capabilities to broaden our product offerings. With this expansion, we expect to complete approximately 40 indoor room harvests in 2026 and increase harvested biomass by approximately 25% compared with 2025. The second project is a lease for a 10-acre secured agricultural greenhouse property with approximately 20,000 square feet of an agricultural structure. Construction is underway with production capacity expected to come online early in the first quarter of 2027. We view this as a high-return investment opportunity with the potential to provide a reliable source of biomass. Together, the first 2 Virginia projects are expected to increase harvest by approximately 60% in 2027 compared with 2026. The third project is a new warehouse expansion that will approximately double our indoor biomass production capability. The project is currently in permitting with the goal of beginning construction in the fourth quarter and completing the first harvest in 2028. We are exploring financing with conventional commercial banks that could provide a more favorable cost of capital than private credit providers. As I mentioned earlier, following the completion of all 3 projects in Virginia, we anticipate a roughly 300% increase in harvest, which we believe will position us well to meet anticipated adult-use demand and capitalize on a significant market expansion opportunity. Importantly, our 6 Virginia dispensaries were designed years ago as a larger format superstore locations in anticipation of adult use. These have large footprints, more than 50 parking spaces at most locations, and sufficient sales floor capacity to add point-of-sale terminals. Because that capacity is already built into the footprint, we expect only limited incremental retail capital investment will be needed for launch. We will also maintain dedicated areas in each of our stores for medical patients. Based on publicly available market data from New Jersey's transition to adult-use and subject to product availability, we believe our 6 Virginia dispensaries are well positioned to generate annualized retail sales growth comparable to those achieved by New Jersey dispensaries during the initial transition from medical to adult use. Our focus is on aligning cultivation capacity, product availability, and the retail experience to prepare for the first mover opportunity. Beyond Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania remain our secondary cultivation investment priorities. In Pennsylvania, we have the ability to expand at an accelerated pace within our existing facility once there is greater clarity around the timing of adult-use sales. In Ohio, we are finalizing drawings for a potential expansion with any decision to proceed dependent on capital availability, the cost of capital, and market conditions. Turning to our retail footprint. We ended the quarter with 42 stores across 8 states compared with 41 stores across 7 states in the prior year quarter. In August, we completed the relocation of our Johnstown, Pennsylvania dispensary to Belle Vernon and saw positive results during the new location's first 2 months of operation. We have identified 5 to 7 additional potential relocation candidates with 2 expected to be completed over the next 2 quarters and the remaining opportunities representing longer-term projects. These moves remain an important part of our effort to improve the productivity and profitability of our existing retail portfolio. Turning to our corporate initiatives. On July 30, 2026, we completed the redomiciling of our parent company from British Columbia, Canada to the state of Nevada following shareholder approval on June 24, 2026. This move better aligns our corporate structure with our U.S. operations and supports our long-term strategy. Across our other markets, we continue to monitor regulatory developments that could influence future growth. In Pennsylvania, we are closely following the upcoming mid-term elections and ongoing discussions around adult-use cannabis legalization. We are also monitoring developments surrounding the regulation of skill games, as both skill games and adult-use cannabis represent potential sources of additional tax revenue for the Commonwealth. We believe discussions around these 2 industries could become increasingly connected through the Commonwealth's budget negotiations and may influence the timing of future legislation. While the timing of cannabis reform remains uncertain, we will continue to monitor these developments and align our investment decision with greater regulatory clarity. At the federal level, we remain actively engaged in opposing efforts to weaken or further delay the statutory language closing the farm bill loophole, and we continue to believe the current framework will remain in place. Under the existing legislation, restrictions on certain synthetic cannabinoids are scheduled to take effect in November of 2026 with the broader restrictions on intoxicating hemp derived products scheduled to take effect in December of 2026. Some hemp industry participants continue to argue that semi-synthetic cannabinoids, which are chemically converted outside the plant, can continue to be manufactured and sold commercially. We believe this reinforces the need for full supply chain custody and visibility for all active ingredients, so consumers know where they -- where every ingredient in their products comes from and how they were naturally produced from plant biomass grown here in the U.S.A. The performance of Ohio's regulated cannabis market following the state's intoxicating hemp ban reinforced our view that consumers turn to licensed operators when regulatory loopholes are closed. We believe effective implementation at the federal level could strengthen the competitive position of regulated operators and support industry growth over the longer term. Finally, we continue to await a final ruling on the broader rescheduling of cannabis to Schedule III. The proceedings remain temporarily stayed as the administrative law judge considers additional procedural requests. However, the judge recently denied the request to reopen the hearing for additional testimony and discovery, which we view as a positive development that could help avoid further delays. The current briefing schedule is expected to conclude on November 5, at which point the stay is scheduled to expire. We are encouraged by the DEA's continued support for rescheduling and its opposition to further delays. We remain optimistic about the ultimate completion of rescheduling, although the timing remains uncertain. The competitive environment remains challenging with continued pricing pressure and competition from illicit and unregulated products. Against that backdrop, our priorities remain consistent: Improve product quality and availability, expand third-party distribution, optimize our retail footprint, and prepare for adult-use sales in Virginia. We will continue to balance those opportunities with disciplined capital allocation. With that, I will turn the call over to Michelle for a detailed review of our financial results.

Thank you, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. I will provide more detail on our third quarter results. Revenue for the third quarter increased $4.8 million to $70.5 million compared to $65.7 million in the prior year quarter. The increase reflected a $2 million increase in retail revenue and a $2.8 million increase in wholesale revenue. Revenue in our retail channel was $60.8 million compared to $58.8 million in the prior year quarter. Retail units sold increased 8.4% year-over-year, with revenue growth primarily driven by Ohio and Virginia. Ohio retail revenue increased $3.1 million, including contributions from the 2 dispensaries opened since the end of the second quarter of 2025 and the continued maturation of other recently opened locations. Virginia retail revenue increased $900,000, driven primarily by an 11.5% increase in units sold with revenue growth across all 6 dispensaries. Our Little Ferry, New Jersey dispensary, which opened in the fourth quarter of 2025, also contributed to the year-over-year increase. These increases were partially offset by lower average selling prices resulting from competitive pricing pressure and promotional activity across certain markets as well as our Peoria, Illinois location no longer being included in our operating results beginning in January 2026. Jushi branded products represented approximately 55.7% of retail revenue across the company's 5 vertical markets compared to 56.4% in the prior year quarter. As Jim mentioned, Virginia achieved record quarterly delivery sales with a 29% increase year-over-year within our health service area. Delivery sales outside our health service area increased approximately 46% year-over-year. Overall, delivery orders increased approximately 12%, and we experienced an increase in units per order and average basket sizes. Wholesale revenue was $9.7 million compared to $6.9 million in the prior year quarter, representing a 40% year-over-year increase and marking our second consecutive quarter of record wholesale revenue. The increase was primarily driven by expanded distribution into additional dispensaries, supported by improved product quality and higher production volumes, which have contributed to increased demand for Jushi branded products. Growth was achieved in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio, while Nevada remained relatively flat. In Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, wholesale revenue increased $1.1 million and $676,000, respectively, primarily due to expanded distribution, including placement in new dispensaries and higher production volumes that supported greater product availability. Virginia wholesale revenue increased $748,000 due to higher demand from our wholesale partners, while increased production capacity and expanded distribution into new dispensaries in Ohio contributed $191,000 of additional wholesale revenue. Gross profit increased to $32.3 million or 45.9% of revenue compared to $30.7 million or 46.7% of revenue in the prior year quarter. Higher sales volumes, particularly in Ohio retail channel were the primary driver of gross profit dollar growth. Continued improvements in production efficiency and product costs at our grower-processor facilities helped offset the impact of lower average selling prices resulting from competitive pricing pressure and promotional activity across certain markets. The lower average selling prices contributed to the modest decline in gross profit margin. Operating expenses for the third quarter were $28.8 million compared to $28.3 million in last year's third quarter. The increase was primarily due to higher employee-related costs from expanded operations, including new store openings and an increase in professional fees. These increases were partially offset by a reclassification of certain depreciation expense to cost of goods sold. Other income and expense for the third quarter of 2026 resulted in a net expense of $9.3 million compared to a net expense of $17.2 million in the prior year quarter. The year-over-year change was driven in part by a $241,000 fair value gain on derivatives in the current year compared to a $6.3 million fair value loss in the prior year quarter. For the current quarter, other expense also included interest expense of $10.2 million, partially offset by other, net of $741,000. Income tax expense was $6.8 million for the third quarter compared to $8.8 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting the federal rescheduling of state licensed medical cannabis from Schedule I to Schedule III, which became effective on April 28, 2026, and the resulting elimination of Section 280E for qualifying state licensed medical cannabis activities. Net loss for the third quarter was $12.5 million compared to $23.7 million in the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was $13.6 million compared to $12.8 million in the prior year period, and adjusted EBITDA margin was 19.3% compared to 19.5%. As noted earlier, the current quarter included $108,000 of employee retention credit income compared to $790,000 in the prior year quarter. Cash flows provided by operations for the first 9 months of 2026 were $12.9 million compared to $11.7 million for the first 9 months of 2025. The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to an improvement in our operating results. Turning to the balance sheet. We ended the quarter with $30.9 million of cash, cash equivalents, and restricted cash. During the third quarter, we paid $4.6 million, including interest, to fully satisfy the outstanding promissory note associated with our acquisition of the Mansfield and Oxford dispensaries in Ohio. This followed the payment of $2.4 million, including interest, in June 2026 to fully satisfy the promissory note associated with our acquisition of the Toledo and Warren dispensaries. These acquisitions have strengthened our retail presence in Ohio, and we remain encouraged by the performance of these locations and the long-term growth opportunity in the market. As of September 30, 2026, we had $215.6 million of debt subject to repayment, excluding the $21.5 million of promissory notes issued to Sammartino that remain in dispute, and excluding leases and property, plant and equipment financing obligations. During the third quarter of 2026, we paid $2.9 million for capital expenditures, bringing total capital expenditures through September 30 to $9.8 million. For the full year 2026, we currently expect total capital expenditures of approximately $12 million to $15 million, primarily focused on renovations within our existing Virginia cultivation facility in preparation for adult-use sales, along with early preparations for potential adult-use market in Pennsylvania. Turning to our larger Virginia expansion project. As Jim discussed earlier, we have completed the design for the expansion of our indoor cultivation facility at our Manassas location that is expected to approximately double the flowering canopy of our existing facility, bringing combined flowering canopy to approximately 45,000 square feet. We expect to complete permitting in the near term with construction targeted to begin late in the fourth quarter of 2026 and an anticipated construction period of approximately 12 months. We currently estimate construction costs of approximately $40 million plus equipment costs, a portion of which we expect to finance through leasing arrangements. We have received a term sheet and indications of interest from existing lenders for financing that could cover at least half of the construction cost. We expect to fund the remaining investment through a combination of existing cash and free cash flow generated from Virginia operations following the commencement of adult-use sales in July 2027. The timing and scale of the project will remain subject to permitting, financing availability, and market conditions. With that, I'll turn the call back to Jim for closing remarks.

Thank you, Michelle. Our third quarter results reflect continued progress in the areas we can control. We increased revenue and gross profit dollars, delivered another record quarter in wholesale revenue and expanded the reach of our products. Higher retail sales, retail volumes, and growth in Ohio and Virginia helped offset continued pricing pressure across the broader portfolio. Virginia remains our most significant near-term growth opportunity. We are advancing cultivation and processing projects, exploring financing alternatives to support these investments and preparing a retail network that was originally designed with adult-use in mind. We believe these investments can position us to serve a much larger market while recognizing that execution, product availability, regulatory timing, and access to capital will determine the pace of that opportunity. Across the business, our strategy remains centered on product quality, consistent execution, and capital discipline. We will continue to expand wholesale distribution, improve the productivity of our retail footprint, and allocate capital carefully as opportunities develop. I would like to thank our employees for their continued dedication and hard work and our patients, customers and business partners and shareholders for their ongoing support. Thank you for joining us today. Operator, please open the call to questions.

[Operator Instructions] And our first question will come from Frederico Gomes with ATB Capital Markets.

First question on wholesale. Pretty strong growth there, and you mentioned the Ohio production volumes. How much more runway do you think there is for wholesale penetration in some of your key markets? Should we model the sort of close to $10 million as the new baseline going forward? Or is there room for additional growth here?

Hello, Frederico, nice to talk to you. Thanks for the question. Yes, wholesale, the availability and the demand for the product has to do with increased yields. Some of it's just growing more per square foot and some of it's capital investment based. And obviously, we have a good sales force, and we're doing the execution well with the product that is in demand because of the quality. And so I would say there's more availability that we can add in Pennsylvania. We're bringing on 1 of the 3 smaller rooms up to 100% capacity beginning of next year. So we're planning cautiously, we could bring on a second room and a third room of those 3. They just need some minor amount of capital to get to our level of standards. So there's definitely growth in Pennsylvania that we should hopefully be able to capture, assuming there's demand. And then Massachusetts, I think that there is room to increase yields as well, but not on an expansion capability, but just potentially growing higher per square foot, which will give us more to sell. In addition, we're selling bulk there. We might be able to convert that into packaged goods. So there's some levers there as well. Ohio is based upon capital investment. So that's not something you should model in the next few quarters because we have a plan to have substantial growth in our GP, but that's going to take some capital investment, which we're planning on doing, assuming we have the financing in place. And then Virginia, obviously, is a big kahuna. We explained a lot about how we're doing there and how we're going to grow it. And that -- I think there is some growth opportunities there in the near term, but there's also the adult-use around the corner. So there's a balance there.

Second question on your store relocations. You mentioned 5 to 7 additional ones that you have that you're looking at. Can you talk about what's the impact on when you do those relocations in terms of what's the payback period, how fast those new stores ramp? I mean how fast they actually match the performance of the old store? And how much of a benefit you see in terms of the upside and the outperformance there?

That's a good question. Yes, on the store relocations, we have 2 near-term stores. We had one that we did in July. The one we did in July was the home run. I don't -- I'm not going to comment on the payback period, but it's not as highly levered, for example, as a GP investment when you're adding rooms, that's a highly levered where there's not a lot of variable cost, but because you are adding a lease and putting capital into it, so a store. So I would -- but I would say it's very good on a vertical basis. We did the Belle Vernon location in Pennsylvania, for example. I think it was in July, it started up. It's exceeded our expectations. So everyone is a little different. But I would say that the stores we're closing tend to have very little profitability and little sales. So I think that in terms of the effect on growth, when you look at the store that's being closed versus what's opened, I think the bar is very, very low on sales growth and also profitability. Those stores that we're closing are profitable on a vertical basis, but they are not profitable as retail stores. So I think it adds to profitability and sales. We can always get one wrong where we think we have a great market and we're not as accurate as we projected. But we're getting better at that, and I think we kind of understand it. And some of them grow a little slowly, but they try to be great stores. We had a store in Mount Pocono that we opened, and that's been growing for 2 or 3 years straight. I forget exactly how long it's been open. But that's always a great thing, but that's -- the Belle Vernon one popped right away and it still has growth. So they're a little different. Both are good investments, but one exceeded our near-term expectations. So that's the kind of the way to think about it, Frederico.

[Operator Instructions] Next, we'll move to Kenric Tyghe with Canaccord Genuity.

Jim, you touched on the importance of the mid-terms. Specifically, though, I'd like to just have a further discussion around Pennsylvania. It looks like we're potentially setting up for a breaking the stalemate in the state with the Democrats possibly getting both the governorship and control of the Senate and the House. Given the importance of Pennsylvania for you, the size of your footprint there and your commentary around sort of some early prep for adult-use in Pennsylvania, can you speak to the change in calculus that the Democrats getting the triple in Pennsylvania would create and also just to sort of the step change it would drive for you if you were to have the twin tailwinds of Virginia and Pennsylvania through 2027?