Here's Why We're Not Too Worried About Bougainville Copper's (ASX:BOC) Cash Burn Situation

Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC) 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.

Check out our latest analysis for Bougainville Copper

How Long Is Bougainville Copper's Cash Runway?

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. In June 2021, Bougainville Copper had K7.4m in cash, and was debt-free. In the last year, its cash burn was K4.7m. That means it had a cash runway of around 19 months as of June 2021. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Is Bougainville Copper's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

In the last year, Bougainville Copper did book revenue of K4.0m, but its revenue from operations was less, at just K272k. Given how low that operating leverage is, we think it's too early to put much weight on the revenue growth, so we'll focus on how the cash burn is changing, instead. While it hardly paints a picture of imminent growth, the fact that it has reduced its cash burn by 42% over the last year suggests some degree of prudence. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Bougainville Copper due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

How Easily Can Bougainville Copper Raise Cash?

Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Bougainville Copper to raise more cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. 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.

Bougainville Copper has a market capitalisation of K416m and burnt through K4.7m last year, which is 1.1% of the company's 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 Bougainville Copper's Cash Burn A Worry?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Bougainville Copper's cash burn. For example, we think its cash burn relative to its market cap suggests that the company is on a good path. And even though its cash runway wasn't quite as impressive, it was still a positive. Based on the factors mentioned in this article, we think its cash burn situation warrants some attention from shareholders, but we don't think they should be worried. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 3 warning signs for Bougainville Copper (of which 1 doesn't sit too well with us!) 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)

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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