Yahoo Finance We're Interested To See How European Metals Holdings (ASX:EMH) Uses Its Cash Hoard To Grow
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 Amazon.com made losses for many years after listing, if you had bought and held the shares since 1999, you would have made a fortune. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.
So, the natural question for European Metals Holdings (ASX:EMH) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of cash burn. In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
Check out our latest analysis for European Metals Holdings
How Long Is European Metals Holdings' Cash Runway?
A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. As at June 2023, European Metals Holdings had cash of AU$8.9m and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$1.8m. Therefore, from June 2023 it had 4.8 years of cash runway. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Is European Metals Holdings' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Although European Metals Holdings reported revenue of AU$1.6m last year, it didn't actually have any revenue from operations. That means we consider it a pre-revenue business, and we will focus our growth analysis on cash burn, for now. While it hardly paints a picture of imminent growth, the fact that it has reduced its cash burn by 28% over the last year suggests some degree of prudence. European Metals Holdings makes us a little nervous due to its lack of substantial operating revenue. So we'd generally prefer stocks from this list of stocks that have analysts forecasting growth.
Can European Metals Holdings Raise More Cash Easily?
Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for European Metals Holdings to raise more cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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).
European Metals Holdings has a market capitalisation of AU$143m and burnt through AU$1.8m last year, which is 1.3% of the company's market value. That means it could easily issue a few shares to fund more growth, and might well be in a position to borrow cheaply.
Is European Metals Holdings' Cash Burn A Worry?
It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way European Metals Holdings is burning through its cash. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even though its cash burn reduction wasn't quite as impressive, it was still a positive. After considering a range of factors in this article, we're pretty relaxed about its cash burn, since the company seems to be in a good position to continue to fund its growth. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for European Metals Holdings you should be aware of, and 1 of them shouldn't be ignored.
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.
