Since Aurora Cannabis (NYSE:ACB) reported its impressive third-quarter earnings, it has been making all of the right moves. For the quarter, the company reported revenues of 78.4 million Canadian dollars. The revenues beat analysts’ expectations of 66.6 million Canadian dollars. The company’s management credited the launch of a value brand, Daily Special, in February 2020 and growth in Cannabis 2.0 sales for its impressive third-quarter sales. As the demand for Cannabis 2.0 products continues to rise, Aurora Cannabis announced the appointment of Miguel Martin as its new chief commercial officer. Martin will replace Darren Karasiuk.

Martin was the head of Reliva, which is a US-based CBD company that was acquired by Aurora in May. He also served as the president of Aurora USA. Speaking on Martin’s appointment, Michael Singer, Aurora Cannabis’s executive chairman, said, “This appointment allows us to take full advantage of Miguel’s depth of international CPG experience to drive Aurora’s revenues and brand strength in our global core markets. Miguel has a proven track record of running profitable global sales and marketing teams in complex, highly regulated industries that are adjacent to cannabis. His new role at Aurora is indicative of our commitment to combining sales and marketing excellence with driving profitability in our core businesses.”

Martin is key to Aurora Cannabis’s product expansion

In June 2019, Deloitte estimated that the Cannabis 2.0 products market would reach 2.7 billion Canadian dollars. The report estimated that edibles alone would grow to 1.6 billion Canadian dollars. Also, the report estimated that cannabis-infused beverages would become a 529 million Canadian dollar market. Together, topicals, concentrates, tinctures, and capsules will likely create a market of approximately 550 million Canadian dollars. Sensing the growth potential, Aurora Cannabis appointed Martin as its chief commercial officer to take advantage of his international consumer packaged goods experience. Overall, I think that the decision is a good move.

Stock performance

Today, Aurora Cannabis was trading 0.7% higher in the pre-market hours. The stock has increased by 78.8% since the company reported its third-quarter earnings on May 15. Last month, Aurora Cannabis announced a business transformation plan to lower its expenses. The company cut its headcount and closed some of its production facilities to better align its production with the existing demand. Also, the company sold its stake in Alcanna to improve its liquidity position. All of these initiatives improved investors’ sentiments, which led to a rise in the stock price.

Despite the recent surge in the stock price, Aurora Cannabis has lost 50.9% of its stock value this year. The company has underperformed its peers and cannabis ETFs. Canopy Growth (TSE:WEED), Aphria (NYSE:APHA), and OrganiGram Holdings (NASDAQ:OGI) have all fallen by 19.2%, 13.4%, and 36.4% YTD, respectively. The ETFMG Alternative Harvest ETF (NYSE:MJ) has fallen by 24.5% during the same period.