There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. 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.
Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Prime Medicine (NASDAQ:PRME) shareholders should be worried about its cash burn. In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.
Check out our latest analysis for Prime Medicine
When Might Prime Medicine 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. In September 2022, Prime Medicine had US$147m in cash, and was debt-free. In the last year, its cash burn was US$126m. That means it had a cash runway of around 14 months as of September 2022. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
How Is Prime Medicine's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Because Prime Medicine isn't currently generating revenue, we consider it an early-stage business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. Remarkably, it actually increased its cash burn by 359% in the last year. Given that sharp increase in spending, the company's cash runway will shrink rapidly as it depletes its cash reserves. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.
How Hard Would It Be For Prime Medicine To Raise More Cash For Growth?
While Prime Medicine 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. 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 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.
Prime Medicine's cash burn of US$126m is about 9.0% of its US$1.4b market capitalisation. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.
Is Prime Medicine's Cash Burn A Worry?
Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Prime Medicine's cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. We don't think its cash burn is particularly problematic, but after considering the range of factors in this article, we do think shareholders should be monitoring how it changes over time. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 4 warning signs for Prime Medicine you should be aware of, and 2 of them are a bit unpleasant.
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)
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content?Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com. 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.
Prime Medicineは現在収益を上げていないため、初期段階のビジネスだと考えています。したがって、売上に目を向けて成長を理解することはできませんが、キャッシュバーンの変化を見て、時間の経過に伴う支出の傾向を把握することはできます。驚くべきことに、同社は昨年、実際にキャッシュバーンを359%増やしました。支出の急激な増加を考えると、現金準備が枯渇するにつれて、同社のキャッシュランウェイは急速に縮小するでしょう。過去は常に勉強する価値がありますが、何よりも重要なのは未来です。そのため、アナリストの企業予測を見てみるのは理にかなっています。
プライムメディシンが成長のためにより多くの現金を調達するのはどれほど難しいでしょうか?
Prime Medicineには堅調なキャッシュランウェイがありますが、そのキャッシュバーンの軌跡から、いつ会社がより多くの現金を調達する必要があるかを先読みしている株主もいるかもしれません。新株の発行、または負債の引き受けは、上場企業が事業のためにより多くの資金を調達するための最も一般的な方法です。多くの企業は、将来の成長資金を調達するために新株を発行することになります。ある企業のキャッシュバーンを時価総額と比較すると、その企業が翌年のキャッシュバーンを賄うのに十分な現金を調達する必要がある場合に、どのくらいの株主が希薄化されるかがわかります。
オーストラリアでは、moomooの投資商品及びサービスはMoomoo Securities Australia Limitedによって提供され、オーストラリア証券投資委員会(ASIC)の管理を受けております(AFSL No. 224663)。「金融サービスガイド」、「利用規約」、「プライバシーポリシー」などの詳細は、Moomoo Securities Australia Limitedのウェブサイトhttps://www.moomoo.com/auでご確認いただけます。
オーストラリアでは、moomooの投資商品及びサービスはMoomoo Securities Australia Limitedによって提供され、オーストラリア証券投資委員会(ASIC)の管理を受けております(AFSL No. 224663)。「金融サービスガイド」、「利用規約」、「プライバシーポリシー」などの詳細は、Moomoo Securities Australia Limitedのウェブサイトhttps://www.moomoo.com/auでご確認いただけます。