Imugene Limited (ASX:IMU) is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business, so we would like to shine some light on the company. Imugene Limited, a clinical stage immuno-oncology company, develops a range of immunotherapies to activate the immune system of cancer patients to treat and eradicate tumors in Australia. With the latest financial year loss of AU$38m and a trailing-twelve-month loss of AU$89m, the AU$375m market-cap company amplified its loss by moving further away from its breakeven target. The most pressing concern for investors is Imugene's path to profitability – when will it breakeven? We've put together a brief outline of industry analyst expectations for the company, its year of breakeven and its implied growth rate.

View our latest analysis for Imugene

According to the 3 industry analysts covering Imugene, the consensus is that breakeven is near. They expect the company to post a final loss in 2026, before turning a profit of AU$151m in 2027. Therefore, the company is expected to breakeven roughly 3 years from today. In order to meet this breakeven date, we calculated the rate at which the company must grow year-on-year. It turns out an average annual growth rate of 51% is expected, which is rather optimistic! If this rate turns out to be too aggressive, the company may become profitable much later than analysts predict.

Underlying developments driving Imugene's growth isn’t the focus of this broad overview, however, take into account that typically a biotech has lumpy cash flows which are contingent on the product type and stage of development the company is in. This means, large upcoming growth rates are not abnormal as the company is beginning to reap the benefits of earlier investments.

One thing we’d like to point out is that Imugene has no debt on its balance sheet, which is rare for a loss-making biotech, which typically has high debt relative to its equity. This means that the company has been operating purely on its equity investment and has no debt burden. This aspect reduces the risk around investing in the loss-making company.

Next Steps:

There are key fundamentals of Imugene which are not covered in this article, but we must stress again that this is merely a basic overview. For a more comprehensive look at Imugene, take a look at Imugene's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of relevant aspects you should further examine:

1. Historical Track Record: What has Imugene's performance been like over the past? Go into more detail in the past track record analysis and take a look at the free visual representations of our analysis for more clarity.

2. Management Team: An experienced management team on the helm increases our confidence in the business – take a look at who sits on Imugene'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.