Companies Like Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) Are In A Position To Invest In Growth

We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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 Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ:ADPT) shareholders 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

View our latest analysis for Adaptive Biotechnologies

How Long Is Adaptive Biotechnologies' 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. In September 2022, Adaptive Biotechnologies had US$508m in cash, and was debt-free. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$231m. So it had a cash runway of about 2.2 years from September 2022. Arguably, that's a prudent and sensible length of runway to have. 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.

How Well Is Adaptive Biotechnologies Growing?

Adaptive Biotechnologies reduced its cash burn by 4.1% during the last year, which points to some degree of discipline. Revenue also improved during the period, increasing by 15%. Considering the factors above, the company doesn’t fare badly when it comes to assessing how it is changing over time. While the past is always worth studying, it is the future that matters most of all. For that reason, it makes a lot of sense to take a look at our analyst forecasts for the company.

Can Adaptive Biotechnologies Raise More Cash Easily?

While Adaptive Biotechnologies seems to be in a fairly good position, it's still worth considering how easily it could raise more cash, even just to fuel faster growth. 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. We can compare a company's cash burn to its market capitalisation to get a sense for how many new shares a company would have to issue to fund one year's operations.

Since it has a market capitalisation of US$1.3b, Adaptive Biotechnologies' US$231m in cash burn equates to about 17% of its market value. 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 Adaptive Biotechnologies' Cash Burn A Worry?

The good news is that in our view Adaptive Biotechnologies' cash burn situation gives shareholders real reason for optimism. One the one hand we have its solid revenue growth, while on the other it can also boast very strong cash runway. Cash burning companies are always on the riskier side of things, but after considering all of the factors discussed in this short piece, we're not too worried about its rate of cash burn. Its important for readers to be cognizant of the risks that can affect the company's operations, and we've picked out 2 warning signs for Adaptive Biotechnologies that investors should know when investing in the stock.

Of course Adaptive Biotechnologies 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.

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