Here's Why We're A Bit Worried About Vicarious Surgical's (NYSE:RBOT) Cash Burn Situation

We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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 should Vicarious Surgical (NYSE:RBOT) 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. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

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Does Vicarious Surgical Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. In March 2025, Vicarious Surgical had US$37m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was US$47m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 9 months from March 2025. To be frank, this kind of short runway puts us on edge, as it indicates the company must reduce its cash burn significantly, or else raise cash imminently. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

Check out our latest analysis for Vicarious Surgical

How Is Vicarious Surgical's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Vicarious Surgical didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. Nonetheless, we can still examine its cash burn trajectory as part of our assessment of its cash burn situation. Given the length of the cash runway, we'd interpret the 20% reduction in cash burn, in twelve months, as prudent if not necessary for capital preservation. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

Can Vicarious Surgical Raise More Cash Easily?

Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Vicarious Surgical to raise more cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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.

In the last year, Vicarious Surgical burned through US$47m, which is just about equal to its US$48m market cap. That suggests the company may have some funding difficulties, and we'd be very wary of the stock.

How Risky Is Vicarious Surgical's Cash Burn Situation?

Even though its cash burn relative to its market cap makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Vicarious Surgical's cash burn reduction was relatively promising. After considering the data discussed in this article, we don't have a lot of confidence that its cash burn rate is prudent, as it seems like it might need more cash soon. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 5 warning signs for Vicarious Surgical (of which 2 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course Vicarious Surgical 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 with high insider ownership.

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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.