Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Watching Boardwalktech Software's (CVE:BWLK) Cash Burn Situation
Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.
So should Boardwalktech Software (CVE:BWLK) shareholders 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. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.
Check out our latest analysis for Boardwalktech Software
When Might Boardwalktech Software Run Out Of Money?
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 Boardwalktech Software last reported its balance sheet in March 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth US$3.1m. In the last year, its cash burn was US$3.0m. So it had a cash runway of approximately 13 months from March 2021. 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. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.
How Well Is Boardwalktech Software Growing?
Notably, Boardwalktech Software actually ramped up its cash burn very hard and fast in the last year, by 147%, signifying heavy investment in the business. While that's concerning on it's own, the fact that operating revenue was actually down 6.3% over the same period makes us positively tremulous. In light of the above-mentioned, we're pretty wary of the trajectory the company seems to be on. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. You can take a look at how Boardwalktech Software has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.
Can Boardwalktech Software Raise More Cash Easily?
Since Boardwalktech Software can't yet boast improving growth metrics, the market will likely be considering how it can raise more cash if need be. 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 and fund 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).
Since it has a market capitalisation of US$30m, Boardwalktech Software's US$3.0m in cash burn equates to about 9.8% of its market value. Given that is a rather small percentage, it would probably be really easy for the company to fund another year's growth by issuing some new shares to investors, or even by taking out a loan.
So, Should We Worry About Boardwalktech Software's Cash Burn?
Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Boardwalktech Software'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. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 5 warning signs for Boardwalktech Software (of which 2 make us uncomfortable!) you should know about.
If you would prefer to check out another company with better fundamentals, then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt or this list of stocks which are all forecast to grow.
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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