We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. 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 BCI Minerals (ASX:BCI) 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). We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.

View our latest analysis for BCI Minerals

When Might BCI Minerals Run Out Of Money?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In December 2019, BCI Minerals had AU$35m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$2.1m. So it had a very long cash runway of many years from December 2019. While this is only one measure of its cash burn situation, it certainly gives us the impression that holders have nothing to worry about. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Well Is BCI Minerals Growing?

BCI Minerals managed to reduce its cash burn by 77% over the last twelve months, which suggests it's on the right flight path. Arguably, however, the revenue growth of 106% during the period was even more impressive. Considering these factors, we're fairly impressed by its growth trajectory. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

How Hard Would It Be For BCI Minerals To Raise More Cash For Growth?

While BCI Minerals 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. 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. 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.

BCI Minerals has a market capitalisation of AU$72m and burnt through AU$2.1m last year, which is 2.9% of the company's market value. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares.

How Risky Is BCI Minerals' Cash Burn Situation?

As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about BCI Minerals' cash burn. In particular, we think its revenue growth stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. And even its cash burn relative to its market cap was very encouraging. 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. Readers need to have a sound understanding of business risks before investing in a stock, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for BCI Minerals that potential shareholders should take into account before putting money into a stock.

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)

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.

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