We feel now is a pretty good time to analyse Symbotic Inc.'s (NASDAQ:SYM) business as it appears the company may be on the cusp of a considerable accomplishment. Symbotic Inc., an automation technology company, engages in developing technologies to improve operating efficiencies in modern warehouses. With the latest financial year loss of US$24m and a trailing-twelve-month loss of US$17m, the US$14b market-cap company alleviated its loss by moving closer towards its target of breakeven. As path to profitability is the topic on Symbotic's investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.

Consensus from 15 of the American Machinery analysts is that Symbotic is on the verge of breakeven. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2024, before turning a profit of US$161m in 2025. The company is therefore projected to breakeven just over a year from now. How fast will the company have to grow each year in order to reach the breakeven point by 2025? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 114% year-on-year, on average, which signals high confidence from analysts. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

We're not going to go through company-specific developments for Symbotic given that this is a high-level summary, though, take into account that by and large a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.

Before we wrap up, there's one aspect worth mentioning. Symbotic currently has no debt on its balance sheet, which is rare for a loss-making growth company, which typically has high debt relative to its equity. This means that the company has been operating purely on its equity investment and has no debt burden. This aspect reduces the risk around investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Symbotic which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Symbotic, take a look at Symbotic's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of key factors you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is Symbotic worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Symbotic is currently mispriced by the market.
2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Symbotic's board and the CEO's background.
3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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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.