green thumb industries inc rode a 37 rise in fourthquarter sales to a slightly higher profit on tuesday as the cannabis company continued spending to prepare for adult use sales in virginia new york and elsewhere “the headline for the quarter is continued strong execution it’s wonderfully boring” ceo ben kovler told marketwatch “people talk about how clean our plan and earnings are and we continue to execute against it” green thumb industries gtbif gtii reported net income of 2281 million or 10 cents a share in the three months ended dec 31 up slightly from 2247 million or 11 cents a share in the yearago quarter sales increased to 2436 million from 1772 million in the yearago quarter as the cannabis company grew scale in its consumer packaged goods and retail businesses particularly in illinois and pennsylvania analysts surveyed by factset expected green thumb industries to earn 8 cents a share on 238 million of revenue shares of green thumb industries fell 3 on tuesday the stock has lost 164 so far in 2022 compared to a drop of 197 by the advisorshares pure cannabis etf msos  cowen analyst vivien azer reiterated her outperform rating and 45 price target on green thumb industries she said the company’s gross margin contracted by 260 basis points sequentially but that management has committed to holding gross margins at or above 50 the company’s revenue grew 4 over the previous quarter and beat expectations she said “margins were under press due to price compression” azer said kovler said timing on some states opening up adult use sales has been difficult to predict but over time the company’s business will grow “the setup for green thumb is good as we look out a year or two or threeplus” kovler said “thinking about our business quartertoquarter is a little too short term for us we believe in the long term” although the stock has been down it’s still trading three times higher than when the company went public three years ago he said green thumb closed out the year with more than 230 million in cash kovler said it has the lowest cost of capital in the industry he said it’s carrying 250 million in debt at an interest rate of about 7 with capital expenditures of about 229 million last year it’s also the largest spender in the industry green thumb opened new retail stores in massachusetts and nevada in the fourth quarter part of its 10 store openings and purchase of 12 new stores in 2021 the company’s fourth quarter revenue reflected activity at 73 retail stores in california connecticut florida illinois maryland massachusetts minnesota nevada new jersey new york ohio pennsylvania rhode island and virginia comparable sales growth for stores opened at least 12 months was 6 on a base of 48 stores fourthquarter earnings before interest taxes amortization and depreciation ebitda rose to 756 million from 613 million selling general and administrative expenses rose to 743 million from 532 million green thumb has not inked a slew of celebrity endorsements outside of paying an undisclosed sum in 2019 for renown tattoo artist scott campbell’s beboe brand but it remains open to any opportunities that make sense for the company kovler said canadian cannabis company cronos group cron cron said tuesday its fourthquarter loss increased to 13389 million or 36 cents a share from 11171 million or 31 cents a share in the yearago quarter net revenue increased to 258 million from 1705 million cronos booked a 1199 million impairment charge in the latest quarter as a result of plan to exit its peace naturals campus analysts expected a loss of 11 cents a share on revenue of 239 million according to a survey by factset “our fourth quarter 2021 results indicate positive momentum which we will look to carry forward as we begin to implement our strategic and operational realignment initiatives” ceo kurt schmidt said in a statement shares of cronos group fell 36 the stock is down 12 so far in 2022 compared to a drop of 172 by the cannabis etf thcx 