We're Not Very Worried About IDT Australia's (ASX:IDT) Cash Burn Rate
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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. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.
Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether IDT Australia (ASX:IDT) shareholders should 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). We'll start by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves in order to calculate its cash runway.
See our latest analysis for IDT Australia
Does IDT Australia Have A Long 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. As at December 2019, IDT Australia had cash of AU$6.7m and such minimal debt that we can ignore it for the purposes of this analysis. In the last year, its cash burn was AU$2.1m. That means it had a cash runway of about 3.2 years as of December 2019. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
How Well Is IDT Australia Growing?
Some investors might find it troubling that IDT Australia is actually increasing its cash burn, which is up 26% in the last year. Also concerning, operating revenue was actually down by 14% in that time. Taken together, we think these growth metrics are a little worrying. In reality, this article only makes a short study of the company's growth data. You can take a look at how IDT Australia has developed its business over time by checking this visualization of its revenue and earnings history.
How Hard Would It Be For IDT Australia To Raise More Cash For Growth?
Even though it seems like IDT Australia is developing its business nicely, we still like to consider how easily it could raise more money to accelerate growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. 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.
IDT Australia's cash burn of AU$2.1m is about 5.7% of its AU$37m market capitalisation. That's a low proportion, so we figure the company would be able to raise more cash to fund growth, with a little dilution, or even to simply borrow some money.
Is IDT Australia's Cash Burn A Worry?
As you can probably tell by now, we're not too worried about IDT Australia's cash burn. For example, we think its cash runway suggests that the company is on a good path. While its falling revenue wasn't great, the other factors mentioned in this article more than make up for weakness on that measure. Based on the factors mentioned in this article, we think its cash burn situation warrants some attention from shareholders, but we don't think they should be worried. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 2 warning signs for IDT Australia (of which 1 is a bit unpleasant!) you should know about.
Of course IDT Australia 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.
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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