We're Hopeful That DeepMatter Group (LON:DMTR) Will Use Its Cash Wisely

There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, although Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether DeepMatter Group (LON:DMTR) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

View our latest analysis for DeepMatter Group

When Might DeepMatter Group Run Out Of Money?

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. As at December 2020, DeepMatter Group had cash of UK£2.6m and such minimal debt that we can ignore it for the purposes of this analysis. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through UK£2.1m. Therefore, from December 2020 it had roughly 15 months of cash runway. While that cash runway isn't too concerning, sensible holders would be peering into the distance, and considering what happens if the company runs out of cash. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Well Is DeepMatter Group Growing?

It was fairly positive to see that DeepMatter Group reduced its cash burn by 24% during the last year. And operating revenue was up by 10% too. Considering the factors above, the company doesn’t fare badly when it comes to assessing how it is changing over time. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. This graph of historic earnings and revenue shows how DeepMatter Group is building its business over time.

How Hard Would It Be For DeepMatter Group To Raise More Cash For Growth?

Even though it seems like DeepMatter Group is developing its business nicely, we still like to consider how easily it could raise more money to accelerate growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations.

DeepMatter Group's cash burn of UK£2.1m is about 12% of its UK£18m market capitalisation. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted.

How Risky Is DeepMatter Group's Cash Burn Situation?

The good news is that in our view DeepMatter Group's cash burn situation gives shareholders real reason for optimism. One the one hand we have its solid cash burn reduction, while on the other it can also boast very strong cash burn relative to its market cap. While we're the kind of investors who are always a bit concerned about the risks involved with cash burning companies, the metrics we have discussed in this article leave us relatively comfortable about DeepMatter Group's situation. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 5 warning signs for DeepMatter Group (of which 1 is concerning!) you should know about.

Of course DeepMatter Group 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.

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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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