We're Keeping An Eye On 4D Molecular Therapeutics' (NASDAQ:FDMT) Cash Burn Rate

There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether 4D Molecular Therapeutics (NASDAQ:FDMT) shareholders should 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. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

View our latest analysis for 4D Molecular Therapeutics

When Might 4D Molecular Therapeutics 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 June 2022, 4D Molecular Therapeutics had cash of US$241m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was US$97m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from June 2022 it had 2.5 years of cash runway. That's decent, giving the company a couple years to develop its business. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Well Is 4D Molecular Therapeutics Growing?

4D Molecular Therapeutics actually ramped up its cash burn by a whopping 52% in the last year, which shows it is boosting investment in the business. That's bad enough, but the operating revenue drop of 88% points to a period of uncertainty and, quite potentially, heightened risk for holders." In light of the above-mentioned, we're pretty wary of the trajectory the company seems to be on. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.

Can 4D Molecular Therapeutics Raise More Cash Easily?

While 4D Molecular Therapeutics seems to be in a fairly good position, it's still worth considering how easily it could raise more cash, even just to fuel faster growth. 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. 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of US$290m, 4D Molecular Therapeutics' US$97m in cash burn equates to about 33% of its market value. That's fairly notable cash burn, so if the company had to sell shares to cover the cost of another year's operations, shareholders would suffer some costly dilution.

So, Should We Worry About 4D Molecular Therapeutics' Cash Burn?

On this analysis of 4D Molecular Therapeutics' cash burn, we think its cash runway was reassuring, while its falling revenue has us a bit worried. Summing up, we think the 4D Molecular Therapeutics' cash burn is a risk, based on the factors we mentioned in this article. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 5 warning signs for 4D Molecular Therapeutics you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

Of course 4D Molecular Therapeutics 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.