We're Keeping An Eye On Kaival Brands Innovations Group's (NASDAQ:KAVL) Cash Burn Rate

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.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Kaival Brands Innovations Group (NASDAQ:KAVL) 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

Check out our latest analysis for Kaival Brands Innovations Group

SWOT Analysis for Kaival Brands Innovations Group

When Might Kaival Brands Innovations Group Run Out Of Money?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. As at January 2023, Kaival Brands Innovations Group had cash of US$3.8m and no debt. In the last year, its cash burn was US$3.5m. Therefore, from January 2023 it had roughly 13 months of cash runway. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

How Well Is Kaival Brands Innovations Group Growing?

It was fairly positive to see that Kaival Brands Innovations Group reduced its cash burn by 42% during the last year. Unfortunately, however, operating revenue declined by 49% during the period. In light of the data above, we're fairly sanguine about the business growth trajectory. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.

How Hard Would It Be For Kaival Brands Innovations Group To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While Kaival Brands Innovations Group 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. 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.

Kaival Brands Innovations Group has a market capitalisation of US$41m and burnt through US$3.5m last year, which is 8.6% of the company's market value. 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 Kaival Brands Innovations Group's Cash Burn A Worry?

Even though its falling revenue makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Kaival Brands Innovations Group's cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. We don't think its cash burn is particularly problematic, but after considering the range of factors in this article, we do think shareholders should be monitoring how it changes over time. On another note, Kaival Brands Innovations Group has 5 warning signs (and 3 which are significant) we think you should know about.

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.