Yahoo Finance Is Avira Resources (ASX:AVW) In A Good Position To Deliver On Growth Plans?
Just because a business does not make any money, does not mean that the stock will go down. 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 Avira Resources (ASX:AVW) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
View our latest analysis for Avira Resources
Does Avira Resources 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. Avira Resources has such a small amount of debt that we'll set it aside, and focus on the AU$610k in cash it held at December 2019. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$428k. That means it had a cash runway of around 17 months as of December 2019. 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. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Is Avira Resources's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Avira Resources didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. The 64% reduction in its cash burn over the last twelve months may be good for protecting the balance sheet but it hardly points to imminent growth. Avira Resources makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.
How Hard Would It Be For Avira Resources To Raise More Cash For Growth?
While we're comforted by the recent reduction evident from our analysis of Avira Resources's cash burn, it is still worth considering how easily the company could raise more funds, if it wanted to accelerate spending to drive growth. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash to 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).
Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$2.3m, Avira Resources's AU$428k in cash burn equates to about 19% of its market value. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution.
So, Should We Worry About Avira Resources's Cash Burn?
Avira Resources appears to be in pretty good health when it comes to its cash burn situation. One the one hand we have its solid cash runway, while on the other it can also boast very strong cash burn reduction. Cash burning companies are always on the riskier side of things, but after considering all of the factors discussed in this short piece, we're not too worried about its rate of cash burn. On another note, Avira Resources has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are a bit concerning) we think you should know about.
Of course Avira Resources 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.
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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