Companies Like Kinnate Biopharma (NASDAQ:KNTE) Are In A Position To Invest In Growth

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. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So, the natural question for Kinnate Biopharma (NASDAQ:KNTE) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

View our latest analysis for Kinnate Biopharma

Does Kinnate Biopharma Have A Long Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In September 2021, Kinnate Biopharma had US$258m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$62m. So it had a cash runway of about 4.1 years from September 2021. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

How Is Kinnate Biopharma's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Kinnate Biopharma 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. Its cash burn positively exploded in the last year, up 210%. We certainly hope for shareholders' sake that the money is well spent, because that kind of expenditure increase always makes us nervous. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

Can Kinnate Biopharma Raise More Cash Easily?

Given its cash burn trajectory, Kinnate Biopharma shareholders may wish to consider how easily it could raise more cash, despite its solid cash runway. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive 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).

Kinnate Biopharma's cash burn of US$62m is about 11% of its US$549m market capitalisation. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution.

Is Kinnate Biopharma's Cash Burn A Worry?

Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Kinnate Biopharma's cash runway was relatively promising. Considering all the factors discussed in this article, we're not overly concerned about the company's cash burn, although we do think shareholders should keep an eye on how it develops. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for Kinnate Biopharma you should be aware of, and 2 of them shouldn't be ignored.

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. 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.