We're Not Worried About Research Solutions' (NASDAQ:RSSS) Cash Burn

Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. 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. 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 Research Solutions (NASDAQ:RSSS) 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'.

View our latest analysis for Research Solutions

When Might Research Solutions Run Out Of Money?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. As at September 2022, Research Solutions had cash of US$10m and no debt. In the last year, its cash burn was US$578k. That means it had a cash runway of very many years as of September 2022. 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. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

Is Research Solutions' Revenue Growing?

We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Research Solutions actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. Although it's hardly brilliant growth, it's good to see the company grew revenue by 6.7% in the last year. 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.

How Easily Can Research Solutions Raise Cash?

Notwithstanding Research Solutions' revenue growth, it is still important to consider how it could raise more money, if it needs to. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. 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.

Research Solutions' cash burn of US$578k is about 1.0% of its US$55m market capitalisation. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares.

So, Should We Worry About Research Solutions' Cash Burn?

It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Research Solutions is burning through its cash. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. On this analysis its revenue growth was its weakest feature, but we are not concerned about it. After considering a range of factors in this article, we're pretty relaxed about its cash burn, since the company seems to be in a good position to continue to fund its growth. An in-depth examination of risks revealed 2 warning signs for Research Solutions that readers should think about before committing capital to this stock.

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. 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.