Yahoo Finance Companies Like Eastern Resources (ASX:EFE) Are In A Position To Invest In Growth
We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. Indeed, Eastern Resources (ASX:EFE) stock is up 345% 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.
So notwithstanding the buoyant share price, we think it's well worth asking whether Eastern Resources' cash burn is too risky. 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.
View our latest analysis for Eastern Resources
When Might Eastern Resources Run Out Of Money?
A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. When Eastern Resources last reported its balance sheet in December 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$4.8m. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$1.1m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of about 4.5 years as of December 2021. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.
How Is Eastern Resources' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
In our view, Eastern Resources doesn't yet produce significant amounts of operating revenue, since it reported just AU$37.0 in the last twelve months. 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. Its cash burn positively exploded in the last year, up 225%. We certainly hope for shareholders' sake that the money is well spent, because that kind of expenditure increase always makes us nervous. Eastern 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 Easily Can Eastern Resources Raise Cash?
While Eastern Resources does have a solid cash runway, its cash burn trajectory may have some shareholders thinking ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. 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 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 AU$48m, Eastern Resources' AU$1.1m in cash burn equates to about 2.2% of its market value. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares.
How Risky Is Eastern Resources' Cash Burn Situation?
It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Eastern Resources is burning through its cash. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. While we must concede that its increasing cash burn is a bit worrying, the other factors mentioned in this article provide great comfort when it comes to the cash burn. After taking into account the various metrics mentioned in this report, we're pretty comfortable with how the company is spending its cash, as it seems on track to meet its needs over the medium term. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 4 warning signs for Eastern Resources (2 are a bit concerning!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.
