Ta Jiang (TPE:1453) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business

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. 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 Ta Jiang (TPE:1453) 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'. 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 Ta Jiang

Does Ta Jiang Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In September 2020, Ta Jiang had NT$283m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was NT$42m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of about 6.7 years as of September 2020. Even though this is but one measure of the company's cash burn, the thought of such a long cash runway warms our bellies in a comforting way. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

How Easily Can Ta Jiang Raise Cash?

Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. 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).

Ta Jiang's cash burn of NT$42m is about 5.0% of its NT$850m market capitalisation. 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 Ta Jiang's Cash Burn A Worry?

Because Ta Jiang is an early stage company, we don't have a great deal of data on which to form an opinion of its cash burn. However, it is fair to say that its cash runway gave us comfort. Summing up, its cash burn doesn't bother us and we're excited to see what kind of growth it can achieve with its current cash hoard. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 2 warning signs for Ta Jiang (1 can't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, 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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