Companies Like Helius Minerals (CVE:HHH) Are In A Position To Invest In Growth
There's no doubt that money can be made by owning shares of unprofitable businesses. Indeed, Helius Minerals (CVE:HHH) stock is up 2,483% in the last year, providing strong gains for shareholders. But the harsh reality is that very many loss making companies burn through all their cash and go bankrupt.
Given its strong share price performance, we think it's worthwhile for Helius Minerals shareholders to consider whether its cash burn is concerning. 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.
Does Helius Minerals Have A Long 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. As at September 2025, Helius Minerals had cash of US$935k and no debt. Looking at the last year, the company burnt through US$670k. That means it had a cash runway of around 17 months as of September 2025. While that cash runway isn't too concerning, sensible holders would be peering into the distance, and considering what happens if the company runs out of cash. You can see how its cash balance has changed over time in the image below.
Check out our latest analysis for Helius Minerals
Can Helius Minerals Raise More Cash Easily?
Companies can raise capital through either debt or equity. Commonly, a business will sell new shares in itself to raise cash and drive 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.
Helius Minerals has a market capitalisation of US$87m and burnt through US$670k last year, which is 0.8% of the company's market value. So it could almost certainly just borrow a little to fund another year's growth, or else easily raise the cash by issuing a few shares.
Is Helius Minerals' Cash Burn A Worry?
Given it's an early stage company, we don't have a lot of data with which to judge Helius Minerals' cash burn. Certainly, we'd be more confident in the stock if it was generating operating revenue. Having said that, we can say that its cash burn relative to its market cap was a real positive. The bottom line is that we think its cash burn seems fairly reasonable, given it is still chasing growth. On another note, we conducted an in-depth investigation of the company, and identified 4 warning signs for Helius Minerals (3 make us uncomfortable!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
Of course Helius Minerals 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.