Sangamo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SGMO) Is In A Strong Position To Grow Its Business
We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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 Sangamo Therapeutics (NASDAQ:SGMO) shareholders is whether they should be concerned by its rate of 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 Sangamo Therapeutics
How Long Is Sangamo Therapeutics' Cash Runway?
A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. In June 2021, Sangamo Therapeutics had US$530m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$116m. So it had a cash runway of about 4.6 years from June 2021. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. Importantly, if we extrapolate recent cash burn trends, the cash runway would be noticeably longer. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
Is Sangamo Therapeutics' Revenue Growing?
We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Sangamo Therapeutics 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 24% in the last twelve months. 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 Hard Would It Be For Sangamo Therapeutics To Raise More Cash For Growth?
Notwithstanding Sangamo Therapeutics' revenue growth, it is still important to consider how it could raise more money, if it needs to. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. 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 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.
Sangamo Therapeutics' cash burn of US$116m is about 8.0% of its US$1.4b market capitalisation. Given that is a rather small percentage, it would probably be really easy for the company to fund another year's growth by issuing some new shares to investors, or even by taking out a loan.
So, Should We Worry About Sangamo Therapeutics' Cash Burn?
It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Sangamo Therapeutics is burning through its cash. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. And even though its revenue growth wasn't quite as impressive, it was still a positive. 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. An in-depth examination of risks revealed 2 warning signs for Sangamo Therapeutics that readers should think about before committing capital to this stock.
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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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