Here's Why We're Not Too Worried About Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology's (GTSM:6793) Cash Burn Situation

We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. 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 Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology (GTSM:6793) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

See our latest analysis for Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology

Does Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology 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. In June 2020, Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology had NT$279m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was NT$109m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of about 2.6 years as of June 2020. Arguably, that's a prudent and sensible length of runway to have. We should note, however, that if we extrapolate recent trends in its cash burn, then its cash runway would get a lot longer. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Is Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

In our view, Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology doesn't yet produce significant amounts of operating revenue, since it reported just NT$5.9m in the last twelve months. As a result, we think it's a bit early to focus on the revenue growth, so we'll limit ourselves to looking at how the cash burn is changing over time. Over the last year its cash burn actually increased by a very significant 74%. While this spending increase is no doubt intended to drive growth, if the trend continues the company's cash runway will shrink very quickly. Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology 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 Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology Raise Cash?

While Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of NT$4.6b, Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology's NT$109m in cash burn equates to about 2.4% of its 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 Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology's Cash Burn?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology's cash burn. In particular, we think its cash burn relative to its market cap stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. While its increasing cash burn wasn't great, the other factors mentioned in this article more than make up for weakness on that measure. Looking at all the measures in this article, together, we're not worried about its rate of cash burn; the company seems well on top of its medium-term spending needs. Taking an in-depth view of risks, we've identified 1 warning sign for Tien Li Offshore Wind Technology that you should be aware of before investing.

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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