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. But while the successes are well known, investors should not ignore the very many unprofitable companies that simply burn through all their cash and collapse.

Given this risk, we thought we'd take a look at whether Nxt-ID (NASDAQ:NXTD) shareholders should be worried about its 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 Nxt-ID

Does Nxt-ID Have A Long Cash Runway?

A cash runway is defined as the length of time it would take a company to run out of money if it kept spending at its current rate of cash burn. When Nxt-ID last reported its balance sheet in September 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth US$16m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$3.7m. So it had a cash runway of about 4.3 years from September 2021. There's no doubt that this is a reassuringly long runway. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

Is Nxt-ID's Revenue Growing?

We're hesitant to extrapolate on the recent trend to assess its cash burn, because Nxt-ID actually had positive free cash flow last year, so operating revenue growth is probably our best bet to measure, right now. Regrettably, the company's operating revenue moved in the wrong direction over the last twelve months, declining by 21%. Of course, we've only taken a quick look at the stock's growth metrics, here. This graph of historic earnings and revenue shows how Nxt-ID is building its business over time.

Can Nxt-ID Raise More Cash Easily?

Since its revenue growth is moving in the wrong direction, Nxt-ID shareholders may wish to think ahead to when the company may need to raise more cash. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. 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.

Nxt-ID's cash burn of US$3.7m is about 14% of its US$27m market capitalisation. Given that situation, it's fair to say the company wouldn't have much trouble raising more cash for growth, but shareholders would be somewhat diluted.

Is Nxt-ID's Cash Burn A Worry?

It may already be apparent to you that we're relatively comfortable with the way Nxt-ID is burning through its cash. 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. Considering all the factors discussed in this article, we're not overly concerned about the company's cash burn, although we do think shareholders should keep an eye on how it develops. Separately, we looked at different risks affecting the company and spotted 3 warning signs for Nxt-ID (of which 1 can't be ignored!) you should know about.

Of course Nxt-ID 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.

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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.