Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Not Too Worried About Vox Royalty's (CVE:VOX) Cash Burn Situation
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.
Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Vox Royalty (CVE:VOX) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.
See our latest analysis for Vox Royalty
How Long Is Vox Royalty's Cash Runway?
A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When Vox Royalty last reported its balance sheet in March 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth US$11m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$9.9m. That means it had a cash runway of around 13 months as of March 2021. Notably, analysts forecast that Vox Royalty will break even (at a free cash flow level) in about 16 months. That means it doesn't have a great deal of breathing room, but it shouldn't really need more cash, considering that cash burn should be continually reducing. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
How Is Vox Royalty's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Whilst it's great to see that Vox Royalty has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced US$666k, 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. Remarkably, it actually increased its cash burn by 722% in the last year. Given that sharp increase in spending, the company's cash runway will shrink rapidly as it depletes its cash reserves. 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 Hard Would It Be For Vox Royalty To Raise More Cash For Growth?
Given its cash burn trajectory, Vox Royalty shareholders may wish to consider how easily it could raise more cash, despite its solid cash runway. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund 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.
Vox Royalty's cash burn of US$9.9m is about 12% of its US$85m market capitalisation. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted.
Is Vox Royalty's Cash Burn A Worry?
On this analysis of Vox Royalty's cash burn, we think its cash burn relative to its market cap was reassuring, while its increasing cash burn has us a bit worried. There's no doubt that shareholders can take a lot of heart from the fact that analysts are forecasting it will reach breakeven before too long. While we're the kind of investors who are always a bit concerned about the risks involved with cash burning companies, the metrics we have discussed in this article leave us relatively comfortable about Vox Royalty's situation. On another note, Vox Royalty has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is a bit unpleasant) we think you should know about.
Of course Vox Royalty 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.
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. 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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