We Think Riedel Resources (ASX:RIE) Can Easily Afford To Drive Business Growth

There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. Indeed, Riedel Resources (ASX:RIE) stock is up 200% in the last year, providing strong gains for shareholders. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So notwithstanding the buoyant share price, we think it's well worth asking whether Riedel Resources' cash burn is too risky. 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. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

View our latest analysis for Riedel Resources

How Long Is Riedel Resources' Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. When Riedel Resources last reported its balance sheet in December 2020, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$2.8m. In the last year, its cash burn was AU$163k. So it had a very long cash runway of many years from December 2020. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Is Riedel Resources' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Riedel Resources didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. Notably, its cash burn was actually down by 57% in the last year, which is a real positive in terms of resilience, but uninspiring when it comes to investment for growth. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Riedel Resources due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

Can Riedel Resources Raise More Cash Easily?

There's no doubt Riedel Resources' 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 and fund 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).

Riedel Resources has a market capitalisation of AU$27m and burnt through AU$163k last year, which is 0.6% 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.

How Risky Is Riedel Resources' Cash Burn Situation?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Riedel Resources' cash burn. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. But it's fair to say that its cash burn reduction was also very reassuring. 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. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for Riedel Resources you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit unpleasant.

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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