Technology Investment Banking: Take Over the World with Zero Earnings and Negative Cash Flows

Last updated on April 5th, 2024 at 11:37 am

When it comes to technology, investing in companies that are not making a profit might seem unreasonable. However, let’s assume the case of Amazon or Tesla where both these companies had negative earnings during certain quarters which scared investors immensely. In the long run, these two are highly profitable companies, but even then, they still sometimes manage to astonish their investors with poor earnings in a few unfortunate quarters.

There are many emerging technologies that have been and can be invested upon during their negative phases where they end up losing more value (or money) as compared to their earnings. Good investors take these risks with technology and software companies when they see a certain amount of hope or trust that these companies will certainly become profitable in some time.

Massive investment banking firms such as Ernst & Young, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and others have dedicated technology divisions, focused only upon investing in technology that will be important in the future or companies that have been estimated to become household names.

A Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional (CIBOP) course can definitely assist in transitioning to investment banking jobs.

What are Negative Cash Flows

Negative Cash Flows occur when companies spend more money than they generate within a stipulated duration. However, Negative Cash Flows do not necessarily mean the company is running at a loss, it is simply a status that equates to imbalances in the revenue stream.

Though it means that the total expenditure outweighs the net income for the specific period, companies can still make a net profit in the long run. In areas such as technology, the initial phase is spent on research and development, thus, actual profit cannot be seen till products or the software is deployed and available to the public. So, investors and firms can still make a profit by looking at the gross margin.

Products should sell for more than their production cost in order to make a profit. However, in the case of Tesla, during the first quarter of 2021, the company lost $970 for every Testa automobile sold (which they covered up with credits and bitcoin sales). Without their credits and BTC sales, they would actually end up losing $181 million.

Amazon, one of the biggest names now, took 14 years to cumulatively turn up the net profit that it earned in just the 4th quarter of 2017. In fact, until the early 2000s, Amazon incurred negative returns during every quarter.

Why are Zero Earnings Beneficial for Investors?

Many technological companies suffer from negative earnings quarter after quarter, however, some always end up achieving blue-chip status or acquiring massive value. This is especially true for biotechnology, IT, semiconductors, hardware, and aeronautical innovations. Investing in early-stage firms from these industries that are currently suffering due to difficulties can promise massive rewards that far outweigh the associated risks.

The possibility of invested companies discovering extremely important technology that assists medical science or AI systems that are capable of running entire cities is far too alluring to miss out on. Zero earnings or negative earnings can be a short-term situation and smart investors rely on the gross margin for longer durations.

It is a high-risk investment, however, large investment banks and investors are generally willing to be patient with temporary problems for an earnings recovery in the future. When wondering about what are the career options after graduation, one can definitely look into investment banking.

Conclusion

A certificate in investment course details shows the way to become a budding investment banker for helping investment firms. Valuation methods such as Discounted Cash Flow and Relative valuation take a company’s temporary problems and the future profit into account to determine if it is worth taking the risk.

So, what are the career options after graduation? Candidates are first recommended to definitely enroll for a Certificate in investment course, details are available here.