Companies Like Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) Are In A Position To Invest In Growth
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. Having said that, unprofitable companies are risky because they could potentially burn through all their cash and become distressed.
So, the natural question for Bicycle Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BCYC) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of 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. We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.
View our latest analysis for Bicycle Therapeutics
How Long Is Bicycle Therapeutics's 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 Bicycle Therapeutics last reported its balance sheet in December 2019, it had zero debt and cash worth US$92m. Importantly, its cash burn was US$30m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 3.1 years from December 2019. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.
How Well Is Bicycle Therapeutics Growing?
Some investors might find it troubling that Bicycle Therapeutics is actually increasing its cash burn, which is up 11% in the last year. But looking on the bright side, its revenue gained by 93%, lending some credence to the growth narrative. The company needs to keep up that growth, if it is to really please shareholders. We think it is growing rather well, upon reflection. 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 Bicycle Therapeutics To Raise More Cash For Growth?
While Bicycle Therapeutics 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. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash to 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.
Bicycle Therapeutics has a market capitalisation of US$241m and burnt through US$30m last year, which is 12% of the company's market value. As a result, we'd venture that the company could raise more cash for growth without much trouble, albeit at the cost of some dilution.
So, Should We Worry About Bicycle Therapeutics's Cash Burn?
As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about Bicycle Therapeutics's cash burn. In particular, we think its revenue growth stands out as evidence that the company is well on top of its spending. While its increasing cash burn wasn't great, the other factors mentioned in this article more than make up for weakness on that measure. After taking into account the various metrics mentioned in this report, we're pretty comfortable with how the company is spending its cash, as it seems on track to meet its needs over the medium term. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Bicycle Therapeutics you should be aware of, and 1 of them can't be ignored.
Of course Bicycle Therapeutics 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.
If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned.
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