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Companies Like Atomo Diagnostics (ASX:AT1) Can Afford To Invest In Growth

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. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Atomo Diagnostics (ASX:AT1) shareholders should be worried about its 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). First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

View our latest analysis for Atomo Diagnostics

When Might Atomo Diagnostics Run Out Of Money?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In December 2020, Atomo Diagnostics had AU$25m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$8.2m over the trailing twelve months. Therefore, from December 2020 it had 3.0 years of cash runway. Notably, however, analysts think that Atomo Diagnostics will break even (at a free cash flow level) before then. In that case, it may never reach the end of its cash runway. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

debt-equity-history-analysis
debt-equity-history-analysis

How Well Is Atomo Diagnostics Growing?

Notably, Atomo Diagnostics actually ramped up its cash burn very hard and fast in the last year, by 110%, signifying heavy investment in the business. But shareholders are no doubt taking some confidence from the rockstar revenue growth of 538% during that same year. Considering the factors above, the company doesn’t fare badly when it comes to assessing how it is changing over time. 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.

Can Atomo Diagnostics Raise More Cash Easily?

While Atomo Diagnostics seems to be in a decent position, we reckon it is still worth thinking about how easily it could raise more cash, if that proved desirable. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$139m, Atomo Diagnostics' AU$8.2m in cash burn equates to about 5.9% of its market value. 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 Atomo Diagnostics' Cash Burn A Worry?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Atomo Diagnostics' cash burn. In particular, we think its revenue growth stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. Although we do find its increasing cash burn to be a bit of a negative, once we consider the other metrics mentioned in this article together, the overall picture is one we are comfortable with. One real positive is that analysts are forecasting that the company will reach breakeven. 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. Taking an in-depth view of risks, we've identified 2 warning signs for Atomo Diagnostics that you should be aware of before investing.

Of course Atomo Diagnostics may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of companies boasting high return on equity, or this list of stocks that insiders are buying.

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.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.

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