We're Interested To See How A-Smart Holdings (SGX:BQC) Uses Its Cash Hoard To Grow

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. 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, the natural question for A-Smart Holdings (SGX:BQC) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of 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). The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

Check out our latest analysis for A-Smart Holdings

Does A-Smart Holdings Have A Long Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When A-Smart Holdings last reported its balance sheet in January 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth S$7.1m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through S$488k. That means it had a cash runway of very many years as of January 2022. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Well Is A-Smart Holdings Growing?

We reckon the fact that A-Smart Holdings managed to shrink its cash burn by 46% over the last year is rather encouraging. 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. You can take a look at how A-Smart Holdings has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.

How Hard Would It Be For A-Smart Holdings To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While A-Smart Holdings seems to be in a decent position, we reckon it is still worth thinking about how easily it could raise more cash, if that proved desirable. 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).

Since it has a market capitalisation of S$28m, A-Smart Holdings' S$488k in cash burn equates to about 1.8% of its market value. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares.

How Risky Is A-Smart Holdings' Cash Burn Situation?

It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way A-Smart Holdings is burning through its cash. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. Its weak point is its revenue growth, but even that wasn't too bad! 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. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 3 warning signs for A-Smart Holdings (1 doesn't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course A-Smart Holdings 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. 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.