CureVac N.V. (NASDAQ:CVAC) is possibly approaching a major achievement in its business, so we would like to shine some light on the company. CureVac N.V., a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on developing various transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA). The US$597m market-cap company posted a loss in its most recent financial year of €260m and a latest trailing-twelve-month loss of €278m leading to an even wider gap between loss and breakeven. The most pressing concern for investors is CureVac's path to profitability – when will it breakeven? Below we will provide a high-level summary of the industry analysts’ expectations for the company.

Check out our latest analysis for CureVac

Consensus from 6 of the American Biotechs analysts is that CureVac is on the verge of breakeven. They anticipate the company to incur a final loss in 2023, before generating positive profits of €180m in 2024. So, the company is predicted to breakeven approximately 12 months from now or less. How fast will the company have to grow to reach the consensus forecasts that anticipate breakeven by 2024? Working backwards from analyst estimates, it turns out that they expect the company to grow 32% 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.

Given this is a high-level overview, we won’t go into details of CureVac's upcoming projects, though, take into account that by and large 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 CureVac 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:

This article is not intended to be a comprehensive analysis on CureVac, so if you are interested in understanding the company at a deeper level, take a look at CureVac's company page on Simply Wall St. We've also put together a list of essential factors you should look at:

1. Valuation: What is CureVac 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 CureVac 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 CureVac’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.