Companies Like Efecte Oy (HEL:EFECTE) Can Afford To Invest In Growth

There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse.

So should Efecte Oy (HEL:EFECTE) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

See our latest analysis for Efecte Oy

When Might Efecte Oy Run Out Of Money?

You can calculate a company's cash runway by dividing the amount of cash it has by the rate at which it is spending that cash. When Efecte Oy last reported its balance sheet in December 2019, it had zero debt and cash worth €3.4m. Importantly, its cash burn was €918k over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 3.8 years from December 2019. Importantly, though, the one analyst we see covering the stock thinks that Efecte Oy will reach cashflow breakeven before then. In that case, it may never reach the end of its cash runway. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

How Well Is Efecte Oy Growing?

Happily, Efecte Oy is travelling in the right direction when it comes to its cash burn, which is down 56% over the last year. And it could also show revenue growth of 13% in the same period. It seems to be growing nicely. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

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

We are certainly impressed with the progress Efecte Oy has made over the last year, but it is also worth considering how costly it would be if it wanted to raise more cash to fund faster growth. 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 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).

Efecte Oy has a market capitalisation of €27m and burnt through €918k last year, which is 3.3% of the company's market value. 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.

How Risky Is Efecte Oy's Cash Burn Situation?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Efecte Oy's cash burn. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even though its revenue growth wasn't quite as impressive, it was still a positive. One real positive is that at least one analyst is forecasting that the company will reach breakeven. After taking into account the various metrics mentioned in this report, we're pretty comfortable with how the company is spending its cash, as it seems on track to meet its needs over the medium term. Readers need to have a sound understanding of business risks before investing in a stock, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Efecte Oy that potential shareholders should take into account before putting money into a stock.

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

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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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