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Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.
Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether NeuroMetrix (NASDAQ:NURO) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.
See our latest analysis for NeuroMetrix
When Might NeuroMetrix Run Out Of Money?
A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. When NeuroMetrix last reported its balance sheet in June 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth US$23m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$3.1m. Therefore, from June 2022 it had 7.3 years of cash runway. Even though this is but one measure of the company's cash burn, the thought of such a long cash runway warms our bellies in a comforting way. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.
How Well Is NeuroMetrix Growing?
It was quite stunning to see that NeuroMetrix increased its cash burn by 259% over the last year. That's not ideal, but we're made even more nervous given that operating revenue was flat over the same period. Considering these two factors together makes us nervous about the direction the company seems to be heading. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. You can take a look at how NeuroMetrix has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.
How Hard Would It Be For NeuroMetrix To Raise More Cash For Growth?
While NeuroMetrix seems to be in a fairly good position, it's still worth considering how easily it could raise more cash, even just to fuel faster growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).