The ASX’s cannabis stocks have filed their latest quarterly cashflow reports and it’s a mixed bag with some going forward, some backwards and a number with no sales revenue at all.

Of the 12 listed below that want to purely make money from hemp or medical cannabis, two are pure-play biotechs — a sector known for taking its sweet time to deliver — and the other two are growers.

And those growers, AusCann (ASX:AC8) and Cann Group (ASX:CAN) are staying mum on when cannabis will turn into a cash crop.

Of the others three saw sales drop. MMJ Phytotech (ASX:MMJ) is going through a challenging transition from Australia’s first cannabis company to Australia’s first listed cannabis investor and eSense Lab (ASX:ESE) is yet to recover after a nasty boardroom scrap.

The companies that are making money entirely from cannabis or hemp are doing so almost entirely outside Australia.

Medlab Clinical (ASX:MDB) and Elixinol Global (ASX:EXL) are making money from Australia’s 500-odd prescription holders and hemp eaters.

Here’s a table of ASX-listed cannabis stocks showing their last two quarterly cash receipts. (Scroll or swipe for full table):

* Companies marked with an asterisk also have non-cannabis operations.

ASX Code Company March quarter receipts December quarter receipts 6-month price change Price May 1 Market Cap
1PG 1-PAGE* (suspended) 0 0 0 0.165 25M
AC8 AUSCANN 0 0 2.40594059406 1.72 477.5M
AEB ALGAE.TEC* $5157 $1791 0.363636363636 0.03 23.4M
ATP ATLAS PEARLS* NA NA -0.259259259259 0.02 10.3M
BDA BOD AUSTRALIA* $201,000 $188,000 2.66666666667 0.44 24.4M
BOT BOTANIX PHARMACEUTICALS $145,000 0 1.76595744681 0.13 85.2M
CAN CANN GROUP 0 0 0.935135135135 3.58 499.6M
CP1 CANPAL 0 0 0.272727272727 0.21 19.6M
CPH CRESO PHARMA $188,000 $14,000 0.5 0.81 91.4M
ESE ESENSE $7000 $29,000 -0.276595744681 0.17 13.3M
EVE EVE* 0 0 1.5 0.01 24.6M
EXL ELIXINOL 5.9m NA 0 1.69 173.9M
LSH LIFESPOT HEALTH* $166,000 $196,000 -0.103448275862 0.13 9.4M
MDC MEDLAB CLINICAL $923,000 $1.2m 0.030303030303 0.68 145.6M
MMJ MMJ PHYTOTECH $1000 $43,000 0.0555555555556 0.38 84.1M
MXC MGC PHARMA $81,000 $69,000 0.12676056338 0.08 92.6M
QBL QUEENSLAND BAUXITE* $34,000 0 2.33333333333 0.05 79.7M
RGI ROTO-GRO INTERNATIONAL* $338,000 $380,000 0.012987012987 0.39 35.2M
SCU STEMCELL UNITED* $100,000 $46,000 0.304347826087 0.03 12.8M
THC HYDROPONICS CO $1.1m $821,000 1.32786885246 0.71 94.0M
ZLD ZELDA THERAPEUTICS 0 0 0.621621621622 0.12 86.9M
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There were a few surprises among the March quarter results this year.

Eve Investments (ASX:EVE), which claims to sell diet shakes in China, hemp honey, and honey serum, has never recorded a sale in any quarterly.

It did however say it made $607,000 in revenue in the second half of calendar 2017.

The other was Algae.Tec, which is yet to harvest its first cannabis crop in Uruguay.

That company has offered a lot of promise, first in algae-based energy, then as an algae nutraceuticals make, and finally in its shift to medical cannabis.

But it is yet to fulfil those expectations in any of those fields.

Hemp is cool, bro

Hemp is the business to be in, for those looking for quick gains.

Industrial hemp farming was legalised in November last year.

It means Queensland Bauxite (ASX:QBL) is actually making money, thanks to sales by its investee Medical Cannabis Ltd of hemp products.

And Elixinol Global’s US hemp and cannabis operations are backstopping the company’s financial backbone.

Elixinol is preparing for federal law changes in the US that is likely to open that country up to start making cannabidiol exports.

Cannabidiol is the non-psychoactive element that most companies in Australia are focusing on for medical application.

The US is the elephant in the room: once it, and its high tech, Silicon Valley-backed weed startups are allowed to play in the cannabis sandbox, the global game will change dramatically.

Trying a bit of everything

A number of the biotechs are also positioning themselves as manufacturers and suppliers of cannabis products, and that’s where they’re starting to make a bit of extra money.

Medlab Clinical is the only pot stock licensed to supply in Australia, but several are able to do so internationally, either through partners or off their own back.

Creso Pharma (ASX:CPH) was celebrating its entree into Switzerland and Liechtenstein in February (as well as an unusual sidestep into cannabis beers), and MGC Pharma (ASX:MXC) opened a Maltese arm, to compliment nutraceuticals, beauty products, and medical cannabis.

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