Will Femasys (NASDAQ:FEMY) Spend Its Cash Wisely?

Even when a business is losing money, it's possible for shareholders to make money if they buy a good business at the right price. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So should Femasys (NASDAQ:FEMY) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? For the purposes of this article, cash burn is the annual rate at which an unprofitable company spends cash to fund its growth; its negative free cash flow. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

View our latest analysis for Femasys

How Long Is Femasys' 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 Femasys last reported its balance sheet in June 2023, it had zero debt and cash worth US$11m. In the last year, its cash burn was US$11m. So it had a cash runway of approximately 11 months from June 2023. That's quite a short cash runway, indicating the company must either reduce its annual cash burn or replenish its cash. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

debt-equity-history-analysis

How Well Is Femasys Growing?

At first glance it's a bit worrying to see that Femasys actually boosted its cash burn by 14%, year on year. The revenue growth of 4.2% gives a ray of hope, at the very least. In light of the data above, we're fairly sanguine about the business growth trajectory. 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.

How Easily Can Femasys Raise Cash?

Given the trajectory of Femasys' cash burn, many investors will already be thinking about how it might raise more cash in the future. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. 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.

Femasys has a market capitalisation of US$22m and burnt through US$11m last year, which is 50% of the company's market value. That's high expenditure relative to the value of the entire company, so if it does have to issue shares to fund more growth, that could end up really hurting shareholders returns (through significant dilution).

Is Femasys' Cash Burn A Worry?

On this analysis of Femasys' cash burn, we think its revenue growth was reassuring, while its cash burn relative to its market cap has us a bit worried. Summing up, we think the Femasys' cash burn is a risk, based on the factors we mentioned in this article. On another note, Femasys has 7 warning signs (and 3 which are concerning) we think you should know about.

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)

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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.