There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. 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. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

So should Eastern Platinum (TSE:ELR) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? In this article, we define cash burn as its annual (negative) free cash flow, which is the amount of money a company spends each year to fund its growth. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

View our latest analysis for Eastern Platinum

How Long Is Eastern Platinum's Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In March 2021, Eastern Platinum had US$9.2m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$9.4m. That means it had a cash runway of around 12 months as of March 2021. To be frank, this kind of short runway puts us on edge, as it indicates the company must reduce its cash burn significantly, or else raise cash imminently. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

Is Eastern Platinum's Revenue Growing?

We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Eastern Platinum actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. We think that it's fairly positive to see that revenue grew 22% in the last twelve months. Of course, we've only taken a quick look at the stock's growth metrics, here. You can take a look at how Eastern Platinum has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.

How Hard Would It Be For Eastern Platinum To Raise More Cash For Growth?

Notwithstanding Eastern Platinum's revenue growth, it is still important to consider how it could raise more money, if it needs to. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. One of the main advantages held by publicly listed companies is that they can sell shares to investors to raise cash and fund growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).

Eastern Platinum's cash burn of US$9.4m is about 21% of its US$45m market capitalisation. That's not insignificant, and if the company had to sell enough shares to fund another year's growth at the current share price, you'd likely witness fairly costly dilution.

How Risky Is Eastern Platinum's Cash Burn Situation?

On this analysis of Eastern Platinum's cash burn, we think its revenue growth was reassuring, while its cash runway has us a bit worried. 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. On another note, Eastern Platinum has 3 warning signs (and 1 which doesn't sit too well with us) we think you should know about.

If you would prefer to check out another company with better fundamentals, then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt or this list of stocks which are all forecast to grow.

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.

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