GrowGeneration Corp. shares soared 8.5% in early trade Tuesday, after the Denver-based maker of specialty hydroponic and organic garden centers posted earnings for the first quarter. The company, which has operations in eight states that have legalized cannabis for medical or recreational use, said it swung to a net profit of $229,421 in the quarter from a loss of $953,430 in the year- earlier period. Revenue rose to $13.1 million from $4.4 million. Like many companies in the cannabis sector, GrowGeneration does not have reliable FactSet consensus numbers. Same-store sales rose 42%. "With our significant top and bottom-line growth, we were able to reduce our operating expenses by 26% and our corporate overhead by over 100 % as a percentage of our revenue," Chief Executive and co-Founder Darren Lampert said in a statement. "With Q2 being our traditional strongest quarter, revenue and net income are trending significantly higher than our Q1 numbers." The company's newly acquired stores and new store openings are performing better than expected and the company has a pipeline of acquisition targets that are set to close in the second quarter. The company is planning to "uplist" to a bigger exchange. It currently trades on the U.S. over-the-counter market. it raised its guidance for 2019 revenue to $60 million to $65 million, from prior guidance of $52 million to $58 million offered in early April. Shares have gained 31% in 2019 to date, while the S&P 500 has gained 16%.