Ascend Wellness Holdings, Inc.

Q2 2026 net revenue was $126.1 million, up $9.2 million or 7.9% sequentially. Retail sales were $92.7 million, up $9.6 million or 11.5% sequentially, while wholesale revenue was $33.4 million, down $400,000 or roughly 1% sequentially. Adjusted gross profit was $58.3 million, up $4.4 million or 8%, with adjusted gross margin at 46.2%; adjusted EBITDA was $29.1 million, up $2.8 million or 10.5%, with margin at 23.1%. Cash finished at $67 million, up $6.1 million from Q1. For next quarter, management expects 2% to 4% top-line growth, driven by new stores and M&A, partially offset by the Illinois union strike, and said adjusted EBITDA margin should be similar to Q2. Full-year CapEx is still expected to be about $20 million, with $11 million already deployed this year.

Sam Brill framed the quarter as proof that Ascend has reached an inflection point, emphasizing the company’s “high ROI retail expansion” and vertically integrated model. He highlighted retail densification, customer loyalty, and CPG innovation as the core growth engine, saying the business is taking share even as the broader cannabis market contracts. His tone was constructive and optimistic, especially on regulatory developments like rescheduling, hemp enforcement, and possible uplisting.

Roman Nemchenko focused on the mechanics of growth, noting that the revenue increase was driven mainly by new stores, while same-store performance also improved as transaction run rates recovered. He cited $22.5 million of operating cash inflow, $13.1 million of investing outflows, and $3.3 million of financing outflows, ending with $67 million of cash. He also broke out $5.8 million of CapEx and $7.3 million of M&A-related payments in the quarter, reiterated full-year CapEx of about $20 million, and said Q3 margin should remain similar to Q2 even with the Illinois strike impact.

Analysts pressed on Maryland expansion, the drivers of transaction and share gains, the M&A pipeline, hemp enforcement, and whether guidance was conservative. Management said Maryland is capped and not currently expandable, that transaction growth is mainly from additional stores and loyalty retention, and that M&A opportunities are attractive because distressed sellers are creating deals with a target of a 35% minimum ROIC including synergies. On hemp, Brill said enforcement is already shifting customers from unregulated to regulated channels and would be a strong tailwind if broader federal action opens a large market, but he also said the late-Q4 timing and the Illinois strike make near-term guidance more cautious.