Yahoo Finance Here's Why Lucid Diagnostics (NASDAQ:LUCD) Must Use Its Cash Wisely
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 software-as-a-service business Salesforce.com lost money for years while it grew recurring revenue, if you held shares since 2005, you'd have done very well indeed. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.
So, the natural question for Lucid Diagnostics (NASDAQ:LUCD) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.
View our latest analysis for Lucid Diagnostics
Does Lucid Diagnostics Have A Long Cash Runway?
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. When Lucid Diagnostics last reported its balance sheet in September 2022, it had zero debt and cash worth US$29m. Importantly, its cash burn was US$37m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of around 10 months as of September 2022. Notably, analysts forecast that Lucid Diagnostics will break even (at a free cash flow level) in about 4 years. That means unless the company reduces its cash burn quickly, it may well look to raise more cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.
How Is Lucid Diagnostics' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
In our view, Lucid Diagnostics doesn't yet produce significant amounts of operating revenue, since it reported just US$565k in the last twelve months. Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis we'll focus on how the cash burn is tracking. Its cash burn positively exploded in the last year, up 288%. With that kind of spending growth its cash runway will shorten quickly, as it simultaneously uses its cash while increasing the burn rate. 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.
How Easily Can Lucid Diagnostics Raise Cash?
Given its cash burn trajectory, Lucid Diagnostics shareholders should already be thinking about how easy it might be for it to raise further cash in the future. 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 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).
Lucid Diagnostics has a market capitalisation of US$74m and burnt through US$37m last year, which is 50% of the company's market value. That's high expenditure relative to the value of the entire company, so if it does have to issue shares to fund more growth, that could end up really hurting shareholders returns (through significant dilution).
Is Lucid Diagnostics' Cash Burn A Worry?
We must admit that we don't think Lucid Diagnostics is in a very strong position, when it comes to its cash burn. Although we can understand if some shareholders find its cash runway acceptable, we can't ignore the fact that we consider its increasing cash burn to be downright troublesome. Shareholders can take heart from the fact that analysts are forecasting it will reach breakeven. 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 6 warning signs for Lucid Diagnostics (of which 2 shouldn't be ignored!) you should know about.
Of course Lucid Diagnostics 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.
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