There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. For example, biotech and mining exploration companies often lose money for years before finding success with a new treatment or mineral discovery. But while history lauds those rare successes, those that fail are often forgotten; who remembers Pets.com?

So should Coast Entertainment Holdings (ASX:CEH) shareholders 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. Let's start with an examination of the business' cash, relative to its cash burn.

View our latest analysis for Coast Entertainment Holdings

Does Coast Entertainment Holdings 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. In June 2023, Coast Entertainment Holdings had AU$135m in cash, and was debt-free. Importantly, its cash burn was AU$32m over the trailing twelve months. That means it had a cash runway of about 4.3 years as of June 2023. Importantly, though, analysts think that Coast Entertainment Holdings will reach cashflow breakeven before then. In that case, it may never reach the end of its cash runway. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

Is Coast Entertainment Holdings' Revenue Growing?

Given that Coast Entertainment Holdings actually had positive free cash flow last year, before burning cash this year, we'll focus on its operating revenue to get a measure of the business trajectory. As it happens, shareholders have good reason to be optimistic about the future since the company increased its operating revenue by 70% over the last year. 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 Coast Entertainment Holdings Raise More Cash Easily?

While Coast Entertainment Holdings' revenue growth truly does shine bright, it's important not to ignore the possibility that it might need more cash, at some point, even if only to optimise its growth plans. Generally speaking, a listed business can raise new cash through issuing shares or taking on debt. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future 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.