Why Tilray Stock Got Hammered in March
Key Points
The company keeps pushing into the craft brewery business, but it's questionable whether that's a wise strategy.
It's at least diversifying overseas in the segment.
We can say this for Tilray Brands (NASDAQ: TLRY) -- the Canadian marijuana company is a hardy survivor. Along with the rest of its ever-struggling industry, it's operated with frequent bottom-line losses for years, and is still standing.
March was another month for the company to endure. It was bookended by the company's announcement of a new acquisition and an analyst's price target cut, unfortunately neither development helped support the stock price. Over the course of the month, Tilray's U.S.-listed shares declined by almost 18%.
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Smokes and suds
Since the early 2020s, Tilray has made a stab at diversification by pushing into a different intoxicant. It's built a sizable alcohol portfolio by acquiring American craft breweries.
Image source: Getty Images.
On March 2, Tilray metaphorically hopped across the Atlantic for its latest beer acquisition. It bought the U.K.'s BrewDog, a brewery that also owns and operates 11 brewpubs in that country and Ireland. The price was 33 million British pounds ($43.8 million).
In its press release trumpeting the deal, Tilray quoted CEO Irwin Simon as saying that "With the BrewDog acquisition, our total global beverage platform is expected to grow to [roughly] $500 million in annual revenue, creating one of the largest diversified craft beverage platforms globally."
While that goal is admirable, the BrewDog buy comes at a time when beer isn't particularly fashionable in certain crucial markets. In the U.S., home to most of Tilray's beer brands, craft brewery production volume fell by 5% in 2025 from the previous year, according to preliminary data from researcher IWSR cited by the beverage industry website Drinks Trade.
Near the end of March, Tilray got socked with that analyst price target reduction. TD Cowen's Robert Moskow cut his fair value assessment on the weed (sorry, weed and beer) stock by 30%, to $7 per share from $10. On a more hopeful note, he maintained his bullish view by leaving his buy recommendation intact.
According to reports, Moscow's adjustment was due to higher aluminum costs, which affect Tilray's beer business. In his note, he mused that the company might not be completely hedged against a continued rise in the metal's prices. Tilray is already habitually unprofitable; this is another potentially large headache it doesn't need.
Continued struggles
So, in a nutshell, Tilray operates in two businesses that -- to put it delicately -- have struggled to grow. Meanwhile, it has to contend with (apparently unavoidable) cost rises in the beer segment. And it's eternally trying to cope with the usual stiff challenges of the marijuana industry that include heavy competition, half-hearted decriminalization in the U.S., high tax rates for cannabis products, etc.
It's telling that Tilray's hype over the BrewDog deal was followed by an investor sell-off. The company's shareholders need some indication that its fortunes could improve at some point. For months and even years now, they haven't gotten many. I think this is a stock to avoid until that happens.
Eric Volkman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Tilray Brands. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.