Beam Therapeutics（NASDAQ：BEAM）会明智地使用现金吗？

We can readily understand why investors are attracted to unprofitable companies. 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.

So should Beam Therapeutics (NASDAQ:BEAM) 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'. First, we'll determine its cash runway by comparing its cash burn with its cash reserves.

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When Might Beam Therapeutics Run Out Of Money?

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. As at June 2025, Beam Therapeutics had cash of US$1.2b and no debt. In the last year, its cash burn was US$356m. So it had a cash runway of about 3.2 years from June 2025. A runway of this length affords the company the time and space it needs to develop the business. Importantly, if we extrapolate recent cash burn trends, the cash runway would be noticeably longer. Depicted below, you can see how its cash holdings have changed over time.

How Well Is Beam Therapeutics Growing?

Notably, Beam Therapeutics actually ramped up its cash burn very hard and fast in the last year, by 132%, signifying heavy investment in the business. If that's not bad enough, it actually saw operating revenue decrease by a whopping 83% over the last year, suggesting the company is going through some sort of dangerous transition. In light of the above-mentioned, we're pretty wary of the trajectory the company seems to be on. 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.

How Hard Would It Be For Beam Therapeutics To Raise More Cash For Growth?

Even though it seems like Beam Therapeutics is developing its business nicely, we still like to consider how easily it could raise more money to accelerate growth. 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 US$2.1b, Beam Therapeutics' US$356m 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.

So, Should We Worry About Beam Therapeutics' Cash Burn?

Even though its falling revenue makes us a little nervous, we are compelled to mention that we thought Beam Therapeutics' cash runway 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. Taking a deeper dive, we've spotted 3 warning signs for Beam Therapeutics you should be aware of, and 1 of them doesn't sit too well with us.

Of course Beam Therapeutics 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 with high insider ownership.

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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.