Companies Like Great Bear Royalties (CVE:GBRR) Can Afford To Invest In Growth

Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. 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 Great Bear Royalties (CVE:GBRR) 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

View our latest analysis for Great Bear Royalties

How Long Is Great Bear Royalties' 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. When Great Bear Royalties last reported its balance sheet in June 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth CA$3.6m. In the last year, its cash burn was CA$427k. That means it had a cash runway of about 8.3 years as of June 2021. Notably, however, analysts think that Great Bear Royalties will break even (at a free cash flow level) before then. If that happens, then the length of its cash runway, today, would become a moot point. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

Can Great Bear Royalties Raise More Cash Easily?

Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. 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.

Great Bear Royalties has a market capitalisation of CA$204m and burnt through CA$427k last year, which is 0.2% 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.

So, Should We Worry About Great Bear Royalties' Cash Burn?

Because Great Bear Royalties is an early stage company, we don't have a great deal of data on which to form an opinion of its cash burn. Certainly, we'd be more confident in the stock if it was generating operating revenue. Having said that, we can say that its cash runway was a real positive. Overall, we think its cash burn seems perfectly reasonable, and we are not concerned by it. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 3 warning signs for Great Bear Royalties (of which 2 are a bit concerning!) you should know about.

Of course Great Bear Royalties 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 that insiders are buying.

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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