With the business potentially at an important milestone, we thought we'd take a closer look at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc.'s (NASDAQ:BCRX) future prospects. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biotechnology company, discovers novel, oral, and small-molecule medicines. With the latest financial year loss of US$247m and a trailing-twelve-month loss of US$236m, the US$1.2b market-cap company alleviated its loss by moving closer towards its target of breakeven. The most pressing concern for investors is BioCryst Pharmaceuticals' path to profitability – when will it breakeven? In this article, we will touch on the expectations for the company's growth and when analysts expect it to become profitable.

See our latest analysis for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals is bordering on breakeven, according to the 10 American Biotechs analysts. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2025, before turning a profit of US$88m in 2026. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven roughly 2 years from today. How fast will the company have to grow each year in order to reach the breakeven point by 2026? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 60% year-on-year, on average, which is extremely buoyant. Should the business grow at a slower rate, it will become profitable at a later date than expected.

We're not going to go through company-specific developments for BioCryst Pharmaceuticals given that this is a high-level summary, though, take into account that typically biotechs, depending on the stage of product development, have irregular periods of cash flow. This means, large upcoming growth rates are not abnormal as the company is beginning to reap the benefits of earlier investments.

Before we wrap up, there's one issue worth mentioning. BioCryst Pharmaceuticals 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. These losses tend to occur only on paper, however, in other cases it can be forewarning.

Next Steps:

There are too many aspects of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals to cover in one brief article, but the key fundamentals for the company can all be found in one place – BioCryst Pharmaceuticals' company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of key aspects you should look at:

1. Valuation: What is BioCryst Pharmaceuticals 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 BioCryst Pharmaceuticals 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 BioCryst Pharmaceuticals'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.