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There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. 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. 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 whetherTalga Group(ASX:TLG) shareholders should 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'.

Check out our latest analysis for Talga Group

How Long Is Talga Group's Cash Runway?

A company's cash runway is calculated by dividing its cash hoard by its cash burn. When Talga Group last reported its balance sheet in December 2021, it had zero debt and cash worth AU$32m. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through AU$32m. So it had a cash runway of approximately 12 months from December 2021. That's quite a short cash runway, indicating the company must either reduce its annual cash burn or replenish its cash. The image below shows how its cash balance has been changing over the last few years.

ASX:TLG Debt to Equity History June 1st 2022

How Is Talga Group's Cash Burn Changing Over Time?

Talga Group didn't record any revenue over the last year, indicating that it's an early stage company still developing its business. So while we can't look to sales to understand growth, we can look at how the cash burn is changing to understand how expenditure is trending over time. The skyrocketing cash burn up 164% year on year certainly tests our nerves. That sort of spending growth rate can't continue for very long before it causes balance sheet weakness, generally speaking. Admittedly, we're a bit cautious of Talga Group due to its lack of significant operating revenues. We prefer most of the stocks onthis list of stocks that analysts expect to grow.

How Hard Would It Be For Talga Group To Raise More Cash For Growth?

Given its cash burn trajectory, Talga Group shareholders should already be thinking about how easy it might be for it to raise further cash in the future. Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. 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.

Since it has a market capitalisation of AU$450m, Talga Group's AU$32m in cash burn equates to about 7.2% of its market value. 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 Talga Group's Cash Burn A Worry?

Even though its increasing cash burn makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Talga Group's cash burn relative to its market cap was relatively promising. We don't think its cash burn is particularly problematic, but after considering the range of factors in this article, we do think shareholders should be monitoring how it changes over time. Readers need to have a sound understanding of business risks before investing in a stock, and we've spotted3 warning signs for Talga Groupthat potential shareholders should take into account before putting money into a stock.

Link:
Here's Why We're Watching Talga Group's (ASX:TLG) Cash Burn Situation - Simply Wall St News