C3 Metals (CVE:CCCM) Is In A Good Position To Deliver On Growth Plans

There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, C3 Metals (CVE:CCCM) shareholders have done very well over the last year, with the share price soaring by 196%. 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 notwithstanding the buoyant share price, we think it's well worth asking whether C3 Metals' cash burn is too risky. 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

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Does C3 Metals 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. In May 2025, C3 Metals had CA$13m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was CA$5.0m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 2.7 years from May 2025. That's decent, giving the company a couple years to develop its business. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

See our latest analysis for C3 Metals

How Is C3 Metals' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

C3 Metals 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. While it hardly paints a picture of imminent growth, the fact that it has reduced its cash burn by 46% over the last year suggests some degree of prudence. C3 Metals makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

How Easily Can C3 Metals Raise Cash?

While C3 Metals is showing a solid reduction in its cash burn, it's still worth considering how easily it could raise more cash, even just to fuel faster growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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).

C3 Metals has a market capitalisation of CA$73m and burnt through CA$5.0m last year, which is 6.9% of the company's market value. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.

Is C3 Metals' Cash Burn A Worry?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about C3 Metals' cash burn. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. And even its cash burn reduction was very encouraging. 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. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 3 warning signs for C3 Metals (of which 2 are a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.

Of course C3 Metals may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks with high insider ownership.

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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.