Is Cara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CARA) In A Good Position To Invest In Growth?

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 software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. 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 Cara Therapeutics (NASDAQ:CARA) shareholders 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'.

Check out our latest analysis for Cara Therapeutics

Does Cara Therapeutics Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. As at March 2020, Cara Therapeutics had cash of US$120m and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$120m. So it had a cash runway of approximately 12 months from March 2020. Importantly, analysts think that Cara Therapeutics will reach cashflow breakeven in 3 years. Essentially, that means the company will either reduce its cash burn, or else require more cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Well Is Cara Therapeutics Growing?

One thing for shareholders to keep front in mind is that Cara Therapeutics increased its cash burn by 273% in the last twelve months. On the bright side, at least operating revenue was up 32% over the same period, giving some cause for hope. Taken together, we think these growth metrics are a little worrying. 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.

Can Cara Therapeutics Raise More Cash Easily?

Given the trajectory of Cara Therapeutics' cash burn, many investors will already be thinking about how it might raise more cash in the future. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund 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.

Cara Therapeutics' cash burn of US$120m is about 16% of its US$769m market capitalisation. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution.

Is Cara Therapeutics' Cash Burn A Worry?

On this analysis of Cara Therapeutics' cash burn, we think its revenue growth was reassuring, while its increasing cash burn has us a bit worried. Shareholders can take heart from the fact that analysts are forecasting it will reach breakeven. We don't think its cash burn is particularly problematic, but after considering the range of factors in this article, we do think shareholders should be monitoring how it changes over time. On another note, Cara Therapeutics has 2 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, 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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