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, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Pointerra (ASX:3DP) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

See our latest analysis for Pointerra

How Long Is Pointerra's Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. In December 2022, Pointerra had AU$2.7m in cash, and was debt-free. In the last year, its cash burn was AU$2.4m. That means it had a cash runway of around 14 months as of December 2022. Notably, however, the one analyst we see covering the stock thinks that Pointerra will break even (at a free cash flow level) before then. In that case, it may never reach the end of its cash runway. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time. debt-equity-history-analysis

Is Pointerra's Revenue Growing?

We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Pointerra actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. As it happens, shareholders have good reason to be optimistic about the future since the company increased its operating revenue by 86% over the last year. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.



How Hard Would It Be For Pointerra To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While Pointerra's revenue growth truly does shine bright, it's important not to ignore the possibility that it might need more cash, at some point, even if only to optimise its growth plans. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. By looking at a company's cash burn relative to its market capitalisation, we gain insight on how much shareholders would be diluted if the company needed to raise enough cash to cover another year's cash burn.

Pointerra's cash burn of AU$2.4m is about 3.4% of its AU$71m market capitalisation. Given that is a rather small percentage, it would probably be really easy for the company to fund another year's growth by issuing some new shares to investors, or even by taking out a loan.

Is Pointerra's Cash Burn A Worry?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Pointerra's cash burn. For example, we think its revenue growth suggests that the company is on a good path. On this analysis its cash runway was its weakest feature, but we are not concerned about it. It's clearly very positive to see that at least one analyst is forecasting the company will break even fairly soon. Looking at all the measures in this article, together, we're not worried about its rate of cash burn, which seems to be under control. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 4 warning signs for Pointerra (of which 2 make us uncomfortable!) you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this freelist of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

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