We Think Fitzroy River (ASX:FZR) Can Easily Afford To Drive Business Growth

We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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 the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.

So should Fitzroy River (ASX:FZR) 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. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

View our latest analysis for Fitzroy River

When Might Fitzroy River Run Out Of Money?

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 June 2019, Fitzroy River had AU$1.3m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$40k. That means it had a cash runway of very many years as of June 2019. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

How Is Fitzroy River's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Whilst it's great to see that Fitzroy River has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced AU$358k, so we don't think it is generating significant revenue, at this point. Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis we'll focus on how the cash burn is tracking. From a cash flow perspective, it's great to see the company's cash burn dropped by 86% over the last year. That might not be promising when it comes to business development, but it's good for the companies cash preservation. Fitzroy River makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth.

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

There's no doubt Fitzroy River's rapidly reducing cash burn brings comfort, but even if it's only hypothetical, it's always worth asking how easily it could raise more money to fund further growth. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash to 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$16m, Fitzroy River's AU$40k in cash burn equates to about 0.2% of its market value. That means it could easily issue a few shares to fund more growth, and might well be in a position to borrow cheaply.

Is Fitzroy River's Cash Burn A Worry?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Fitzroy River's cash burn. For example, we think its cash burn reduction suggests that the company is on a good path. But it's fair to say that its cash burn relative to its market cap was also very reassuring. After taking into account the various metrics mentioned in this report, we're pretty comfortable with how the company is spending its cash. While it's important to consider hard data like the metrics discussed above, many investors would also be interested to note that Fitzroy River insiders have been trading shares in the company. Click here to find out if they have been buying or selling.

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)

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.

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