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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. Nonetheless, only a fool would ignore the risk that a loss making company burns through its cash too quickly.

So should ClearPoint Neuro (NASDAQ:CLPT) shareholders be worried about its cash burn? In this report, we will consider the company's annual negative free cash flow, henceforth referring to it as the 'cash burn'. The first step is to compare its cash burn with its cash reserves, to give us its 'cash runway'.

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How Long Is ClearPoint Neuro's 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. When ClearPoint Neuro last reported its December 2024 balance sheet in February 2025, it had zero debt and cash worth US$20m. Importantly, its cash burn was US$9.2m over the trailing twelve months. So it had a cash runway of about 2.2 years from December 2024. That's decent, giving the company a couple years to develop its business. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.

View our latest analysis for ClearPoint Neuro

How Well Is ClearPoint Neuro Growing?

We reckon the fact that ClearPoint Neuro managed to shrink its cash burn by 38% over the last year is rather encouraging. On top of that, operating revenue was up 31%, making for a heartening combination It seems to be growing nicely. Clearly, however, the crucial factor is whether the company will grow its business going forward. So you might want to take a peek at how much the company is expected to grow in the next few years.

How Hard Would It Be For ClearPoint Neuro To Raise More Cash For Growth?

We are certainly impressed with the progress ClearPoint Neuro has made over the last year, but it is also worth considering how costly it would be if it wanted to raise more cash to fund faster growth. Issuing new shares, or taking on debt, are the most common ways for a listed company to raise more money for its business. Many companies end up issuing new shares to fund future growth. By comparing a company's annual cash burn to its total market capitalisation, we can estimate roughly how many shares it would have to issue in order to run the company for another year (at the same burn rate).