Northern Minerals Limited (ASX:NTU) is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business, so we would like to shine some light on the company. Northern Minerals Limited operates in the mineral exploration industry in Australia. The AU$112m market-cap company announced a latest loss of AU$32m on 30 June 2024 for its most recent financial year result. As path to profitability is the topic on Northern Minerals' investors mind, we've decided to gauge market sentiment. Below we will provide a high-level summary of the industry analysts’ expectations for the company.

View our latest analysis for Northern Minerals

According to some industry analysts covering Northern Minerals, breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2024, before turning a profit of AU$1.2m in 2025. The company is therefore projected to breakeven around 12 months from now or less. At what rate will the company have to grow in order to realise the consensus estimates forecasting breakeven in under 12 months? Using a line of best fit, we calculated an average annual growth rate of 38%, which signals high confidence from analysts. If this rate turns out to be too aggressive, the company may become profitable much later than analysts predict.

Underlying developments driving Northern Minerals' growth isn’t the focus of this broad overview, however, bear in mind that by and large a metal and mining business has lumpy cash flows which are contingent on the natural resource mined and stage at which the company is operating. So, a high growth rate is not out of the ordinary, particularly when a company is in a period of investment.

One thing we would like to bring into light with Northern Minerals is it currently has negative equity on its balance sheet. Accounting methods used to deal with losses accumulated over time can cause this to occur. This is because liabilities are carried forward into the future until it cancels. Oftentimes, losses exist only on paper but other times, it can be a red flag.

Next Steps:

This article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis on Northern Minerals, so if you are interested in understanding the company at a deeper level, take a look at Northern Minerals' company page on Simply Wall St. We've also compiled a list of relevant factors you should further research:

1. Valuation: What is Northern Minerals worth today? Has the future growth potential already been factored into the price? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether Northern Minerals is currently mispriced by the market.

2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Northern Minerals’s board and the CEO’s background.

3. Other High-Performing Stocks: Are there other stocks that provide better prospects with proven track records? Explore our free list of these great stocks here.

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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.