Yahoo Finance Here's Why We're Watching Aptorum Group's (NASDAQ:APM) Cash Burn Situation
Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. 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 while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?
So, the natural question for Aptorum Group (NASDAQ:APM) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. For the purpose of this article, we'll define cash burn as the amount of cash the company is spending each year to fund its growth (also called its negative free cash flow). Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.
View our latest analysis for Aptorum Group
When Might Aptorum Group Run Out Of Money?
A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When Aptorum Group last reported its balance sheet in December 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth US$8.4m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$15m. That means it had a cash runway of around 7 months as of December 2021. Notably, one analyst forecasts that Aptorum Group will break even (at a free cash flow level) in about 2 years. That means unless the company reduces its cash burn quickly, it may well look to raise more cash. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Is Aptorum Group's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Whilst it's great to see that Aptorum Group has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced US$1.5m, so we don't think it is generating significant revenue, at this point. Therefore, for the purposes of this analysis we'll focus on how the cash burn is tracking. It's possible that the 8.1% reduction in cash burn over the last year is evidence of management tightening their belts as cash reserves deplete. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.
How Easily Can Aptorum Group Raise Cash?
Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Aptorum Group to raise more cash in the future. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive growth. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations.
Aptorum Group has a market capitalisation of US$34m and burnt through US$15m last year, which is 44% of the company's market value. That's high expenditure relative to the value of the entire company, so if it does have to issue shares to fund more growth, that could end up really hurting shareholders returns (through significant dilution).
So, Should We Worry About Aptorum Group's Cash Burn?
On this analysis of Aptorum Group's cash burn, we think its cash burn reduction was reassuring, while its cash runway has us a bit worried. One real positive is that at least one analyst is forecasting that the company will reach breakeven. Looking at the factors mentioned in this short report, we do think that its cash burn is a bit risky, and it does make us slightly nervous about the stock. On another note, Aptorum Group has 5 warning signs (and 1 which is concerning) we think you should know about.
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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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.
