Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Not At All Concerned With Novoheart Holdings's (CVE:NVH) Cash Burn Situation
We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.
So, the natural question for Novoheart Holdings (CVE:NVH) 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. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
View our latest analysis for Novoheart Holdings
How Long Is Novoheart Holdings's Cash Runway?
A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. As at September 2019, Novoheart Holdings had cash of CA$20m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was CA$3.7m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from September 2019 it had 5.4 years of cash runway. 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. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Is Novoheart Holdings's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Whilst it's great to see that Novoheart Holdings has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced CA$338k, so we don't think it is generating significant revenue, at this point. As a result, we think it's a bit early to focus on the revenue growth, so we'll limit ourselves to looking at how the cash burn is changing over time. Even though it doesn't get us excited, the 43% reduction in cash burn year on year does suggest the company can continue operating for quite some time. Novoheart Holdings makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth.
Can Novoheart Holdings Raise More Cash Easily?
Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Novoheart Holdings to raise more cash in the future. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash to 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.
Novoheart Holdings has a market capitalisation of CA$74m and burnt through CA$3.7m last year, which is 5.0% 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.
How Risky Is Novoheart Holdings's Cash Burn Situation?
It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Novoheart Holdings is burning through its cash. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even its cash burn reduction was very encouraging. Taking all the factors in this report into account, we're not at all worried about its cash burn, as the business appears well capitalized to spend as needs be. Notably, our data indicates that Novoheart Holdings insiders have been trading the shares. You can discover if they are buyers or sellers by clicking on this link.
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)
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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