We Think Fortress Technologies (CVE:FORT) Can Easily Afford To Drive Business Growth
There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. Indeed, Fortress Technologies (CVE:FORT) stock is up 350% in the last year, providing strong gains for shareholders. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.
Given its strong share price performance, we think it's worthwhile for Fortress Technologies shareholders to consider whether its cash burn is concerning. In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. 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 Fortress Technologies
Does Fortress Technologies 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. As at September 2020, Fortress Technologies had cash of CA$9.0m and no debt. Importantly, its cash burn was CA$1.5m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of about 5.8 years as of September 2020. 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.
Can Fortress Technologies Raise More Cash Easily?
Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. 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.
Since it has a market capitalisation of CA$38m, Fortress Technologies' CA$1.5m in cash burn equates to about 4.1% 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 Fortress Technologies' Cash Burn?
Because Fortress Technologies is an early stage company, we don't have a great deal of data on which to form an opinion of its cash burn. However, it is fair to say that its cash runway gave us comfort. Summing up, its cash burn doesn't bother us and we're excited to see what kind of growth it can achieve with its current cash hoard. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 5 warning signs for Fortress Technologies (2 don't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
Of course Fortress Technologies 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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