Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Not Too Worried About EMX Royalty's (CVE:EMX) Cash Burn Situation
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. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.
So, the natural question for EMX Royalty (CVE:EMX) 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'. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.
View our latest analysis for EMX Royalty
How Long Is EMX Royalty's 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. When EMX Royalty last reported its balance sheet in December 2019, it had zero debt and cash worth CA$74m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through CA$14m. That means it had a cash runway of about 5.2 years as of December 2019. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
How Well Is EMX Royalty Growing?
Notably, EMX Royalty actually ramped up its cash burn very hard and fast in the last year, by 138%, signifying heavy investment in the business. Of course, the truly verdant revenue growth of 138% in that time may well justify the growth spend. Considering the factors above, the company doesn’t fare badly when it comes to assessing how it is changing over time. Of course, we've only taken a quick look at the stock's growth metrics, here. This graph of historic revenue growth shows how EMX Royalty is building its business over time.
How Hard Would It Be For EMX Royalty To Raise More Cash For Growth?
We are certainly impressed with the progress EMX Royalty has made over the last year, but it is also worth considering how costly it would be if it wanted to raise more cash to fund faster growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. 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).
EMX Royalty's cash burn of CA$14m is about 9.0% of its CA$159m market capitalisation. 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 EMX Royalty's Cash Burn?
It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way EMX Royalty is burning through its cash. In particular, we think its revenue growth stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. 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. Considering all the factors discussed in this article, we're not overly concerned about the company's cash burn, although we do think shareholders should keep an eye on how it develops. Readers need to have a sound understanding of business risks before investing in a stock, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for EMX Royalty that potential shareholders should take into account before putting money into a stock.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of interesting companies, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)
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