Ulta stock rises, Aurora Cannabis increases finance deal, Blackberry soars on Google partnership

Ulta shares are up after its big Q1 earnings beat, Aurora Cannabis increased its finance deal to $150 million, and Blackberry stock is surging after news of its partnership with Google.

Video transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Welcome back to Yahoo Finance Live, everyone. It is time for our triple play. And I am kicking us off with my pick, which is Canadian medical cannabis company, Aurora, ticker symbol ACB. Now shares currently down 37% there, as you can see, falling sharply after announcing it would up the size of its bought deal financing to $150 million from $125 million. And that's when a company sells shares to a group of brokerage firms, which can then resell the stock to clients.

Now, under this amended deal, the syndicate of underwriters, led by Canaccord Genuity and BMO Capital Markets, fell by 61.2 million units at $2.45 per unit. Gross proceeds there approximately $150 million. Now Aurora said it will use these net proceeds for general corporate purposes. The closing of this offering expected around June 1.

But cannabis stocks have been taking a beating, as they await more action from Congress. ACB is down nearly 90% from where it was in 2020. But 2022 could be a make or break year. The MORE Act, or Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment Expungement Act, and the Safe Banking Act to make accessing financial services federally legal still need the green light from the Senate. And of course, those midterms are looming ahead, where we could see another shift.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, Rachelle, I think that's been, really, the sentiment from a lot of analysts out there. They point to the regulations that are still in place on the industry. We know the fact that Rhode Island was the 19th state to legalize marijuana this week. But you still have 31 more to go.

So I was actually looking at some recent research reports, and there was an analyst note from BTIG earlier this month. And he was basically saying that these stocks have been taking a pretty hard hit because of the fact that they've been driven into a recession-- these are his words-- "by slow-moving policy changes." It was an analyst from BTIG. So we'll see whether or not some of that momentum is turned around later this year. But I don't know.

DAVE BRIGGS: It will not. It will not. Safe Banking will, I think, get through by the end of the year. Federal legalization has zero chance.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, yeah.

DAVE BRIGGS: None.

SEANA SMITH: Certainly a long ways to go here for that industry. All right, let's take a look at my name. I'm looking at a makeup chain bucking the downtrend in retail. Now Ulta shares soaring after easily beating Wall Street expectations. They also hiked their full year outlook. First quarter sales jumping 18%, thanks to consumers spending more on beauty products. Now Ulta opened 10 new stores during the quarter, bringing the total number of locations, Dave, to more than 1,300. So we talk about people getting out there, being social once again. They're spending money on makeup, things that they weren't necessarily doing in the middle of the pandemic.

DAVE BRIGGS: Yeah, it really is about activities, isn't it? Because their share-- makeup share now is back to 45%. It was 50% pre-pandemic. But it collapsed during COVID. People were just not wearing makeup. It does appear to be back. And their partnerships really work. Billie Eilish, the huge mega singer, they partnered with her, and they partnered with Target very successfully. 127 locations inside Targets, which has been a really big win for them.

My play is Blackberry. No, don't check your calendar. It is not 2013. Blackberry today jumping on news of a partnership with Google on its Chrome operating system and browser. The company is launching Chrome Enterprise Management with Blackberry. That will be available globally in July. Shares up-- bounced more than 9% there. Down now, but still up 7.8% on this news. A stock that was once trading above 140 bucks a share now at 6.54, but a nice day for Blackberry. Also Google parent company, Alphabet, up more than 3% ahead of the holiday, Rachelle.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, I'm glad to see Blackberry getting some kind of comeback.

DAVE BRIGGS: I know you are.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: I mean, it was the device, you know? For everyone who-- everyone in business with the buttons, and they loved it now. Nothing has buttons, so I love that they're re-imagining and doing something different here. I hope it works out for them. It's [AUDIO OUT] nostalgia.

SEANA SMITH: They were forced to do something different. They've had this whole shift to software. It seems to be paying off for the company. But still, when you think of Blackberry, you think of those devices that we had 10, 15 years ago. BBM was the thing. You had to have it. So we've got a long ways to go.

DAVE BRIGGS: 85 million in 2013. I never had one. I never had a Blackberry.

SEANA SMITH: Not even for work?

DAVE BRIGGS: Not for one day.

SEANA SMITH: Shocking.

DAVE BRIGGS: I never liked the idea of the typing.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, yeah, iPhone's always been better.

DAVE BRIGGS: All right.