LABS filed its Q1 2026 earnings this morning, and the headline number is the one the company has been working toward: positive adjusted EBITDA. That milestone — combined with a month that saw the stock climb 23% before a modest pullback this week — frames this as a genuine inflection moment for a cannabis-sector name that has spent years restructuring toward profitability.
Revenue came in at $6.5M for the quarter, down from $7.5M a year earlier. The top-line decline is real. What the company is arguing — and the EBITDA line supports — is that the cost structure has been cut far enough to generate positive operating cash flow even at lower revenues. The Q4 2025 earnings call transcript noted that the company beat revenue forecasts by nearly 6%, and the Q1 release on May 13 carries the same EBITDA-positive messaging. Whether the market accepts that narrative at face value will shape the stock's next move.
The short-interest picture is almost entirely irrelevant to this story. Short interest barely registers — less than 0.05% of the free float — and has been drifting steadily lower over the past six weeks, down roughly 35% from early April levels. Borrow availability remains extremely loose. The lending market is not a source of tension here.
The borrow cost did jump sharply in early May, rising to 3.5% from under 1% in mid-April — an eightfold increase since the start of April. That is worth flagging, but context matters: at those absolute levels, 3.5% is not an expensive or scarce borrow. It is more likely a function of thin activity in the stock than any structural squeeze. Availability is ample and the short score of 28.8 sits well below the midpoint of the range, consistent with a stock where short sellers have been exiting rather than building.
The ownership picture is concentrated and largely insider-driven. CEO David Pidduck holds over 5% of shares. Keith Strachan, another named holder, holds another 2.4%. The most recent insider activity on record — from December 2025 — shows the CEO receiving a large award of 1.3M shares and simultaneously selling 1.5M, a pattern consistent with tax-driven award-and-dispose rather than a directional bet. Significance scores across all December trades were low. There is no fresh insider signal worth leaning on.
Analyst coverage has effectively lapsed — the lone hold rating on file is dated September 2024, over 600 days ago. Valuation multiples in the data are anchored to a 2022 fiscal year and should not be relied upon. What the market is trading is the turnaround thesis directly, with no active Street scaffolding around it.
The immediate focus is on the reaction to today's Q1 release and earnings call transcript. The prior quarter — Q4 2025, reported in late March — saw the stock jump nearly 8% the next day before giving it all back over five sessions. The pattern to watch now is whether the EBITDA-positive result and any forward commentary on the US pharmaceutical opportunity following cannabis rescheduling can sustain a reaction, or whether the Q4 script repeats.
See the live data behind this article on ORTEX.
Open LABS on ORTEX →ORTEX Market Intelligence content is generated by AI from a snapshot of ORTEX's proprietary data. Content is informational only and does not constitute investment advice.
