Is Idera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IDRA) In A Good Position To Invest In Growth?
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, 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. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?
So should Idera Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:IDRA) shareholders 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). Let's start with an examination of the business's cash, relative to its cash burn.
See our latest analysis for Idera Pharmaceuticals
How Long Is Idera Pharmaceuticals's Cash Runway?
A company's cash runway is the amount of time it would take to burn through its cash reserves at its current cash burn rate. Idera Pharmaceuticals has such a small amount of debt that we'll set it aside, and focus on the US$52m in cash it held at June 2019. Importantly, its cash burn was US$47m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of approximately 13 months from June 2019. That's not too bad, but it's fair to say the end of the cash runway is in sight, unless cash burn reduces drastically. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.
How Is Idera Pharmaceuticals's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?
Although Idera Pharmaceuticals had revenue of US$1.7m in the last twelve months, its operating revenue was only US$1.7m in that time period. We don't think that's enough operating revenue for us to understand too much from revenue growth rates, since the company is growing off a low base. So we'll focus on the cash burn, today. As it happens, the company's cash burn reduced by 11% over the last year, which suggests that management are maintaining a fairly steady rate of business development, albeit with a slight decrease in spending. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.
How Easily Can Idera Pharmaceuticals Raise Cash?
Even though it has reduced its cash burn recently, shareholders should still consider how easy it would be for Idera Pharmaceuticals to raise more cash in the future. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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.
Idera Pharmaceuticals has a market capitalisation of US$80m and burnt through US$47m last year, which is 58% of the company's market value. From this perspective, it seems that the company spent a hugh amount relative to its market value, and we'd be very wary of a painful capital raising.
Is Idera Pharmaceuticals's Cash Burn A Worry?
On this analysis of Idera Pharmaceuticals's cash burn, we think its cash burn reduction was reassuring, while its cash burn relative to its market cap has us a bit worried. Summing up, we think the Idera Pharmaceuticals's cash burn is a risk, based on the factors we mentioned in this article. When you don't have traditional metrics like earnings per share and free cash flow to value a company, many are extra motivated to consider qualitative factors such as whether insiders are buying or selling shares. Please Note: Idera Pharmaceuticals insiders have been trading shares, according to our data. Click here to check whether insiders have been buying or selling.
Of course, you might find a fantastic investment by looking elsewhere. So take a peek at this free list of companies insiders are buying, and this list of stocks growth stocks (according to analyst forecasts)
We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.
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. Thank you for reading.
