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 should European Metals Holdings (ASX:EMH) shareholders 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'. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

See our latest analysis for European Metals Holdings

How Long Is European Metals Holdings' 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 European Metals Holdings last reported its balance sheet in December 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$6.9m. In the last year, its cash burn was AU$1.8m. So it had a cash runway of about 3.8 years from December 2021. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below. debt-equity-history-analysis

How Is European Metals Holdings' Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Whilst it's great to see that European Metals Holdings has already begun generating revenue from operations, last year it only produced AU$1.1m, 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. With cash burn dropping by 11% it seems management feel the company is spending enough to advance its business plans at an appropriate pace. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of European Metals Holdings due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks on this list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

How Hard Would It Be For European Metals Holdings To Raise More Cash For Growth?



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. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$222m, European Metals Holdings' AU$1.8m in cash burn equates to about 0.8% of its 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?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about European Metals Holdings' cash burn. In particular, we think its cash runway stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. On this analysis its cash burn reduction was its weakest feature, but we are not concerned about it. Taking all the factors in this report into account, we're not at all worried about its cash burn, as the business appears well capitalized to spend as needs be. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 4 warning signs for European Metals Holdings (2 are significant!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this freelist of companies insiders are buying, 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.