Operating cash flow of -$24.2M and zero dividends, buybacks, or acquisitions in 2026Q2 indicate every dollar of burn is funded from balance sheet resources or external capital, with an operating cash-to-net-income ratio near 0.60 to 1.01.
Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX) cash flow statement — 8-year operating, investing & financing cash flows
| Metric | TTM | Dec'25 | Dec'24 | Dec'23 | Dec'22 | Dec'21 | Dec'20 | Dec'19 | Dec'18 |
|---|
| Cash from Operations | -99.91M | -88.7M | -99.7M | -86.16M | -57M | -67.93M | -43.51M | -18.37M | -5.18M |
| Operating CF Margin % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -15918.01% | -79.14% |
| Operating CF Growth % | -50.11% | 11.03% | -15.71% | -51.16% | 16.09% | -56.13% | -136.87% | -254.31% | - |
| Net Income | -128.94M | -104.08M | -108.79M | -117.5M | -113.84M | -86.08M | -91.36M | -21.08M | -274.5K |
| Depreciation & Amortization | 7.91M | 9.19M | 9.15M | 5.87M | 2.64M | 1.76M | 786K | 401K | 183.21K |
| Stock-Based Compensation | 7.43M | 8.56M | 16.73M | 17.2M | 16.86M | 14.46M | 6.75M | 947K | 182.51K |
| Deferred Taxes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.24M | 738K | 0 | 0 |
| Other Non-Cash Items | 11.7M | -1.93M | -4.63M | -2.65M | 3.61M | 337K | 40.41M | -818K | 548.94K |
| Working Capital Changes | 1.99M | -435K | -12.16M | 10.93M | 33.74M | -1.64M | -828K | 2.18M | -5.28M |
| Change in Receivables | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -463.26K | -14.82K |
| Change in Inventory | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Change in Payables | 7.9M | 2.46M | -4.47M | 4.22M | 2.76M | 2.79M | 2.82M | 2.64M | 689.71K |
| Cash from Investing | 87.26M | 100.32M | -129.56M | 79.02M | -184.69M | 32.53M | -210.08M | -18.3M | -757.88K |
| Capital Expenditures | -2.4M | -1.21M | -4.41M | -28.15M | -47.11M | -5.03M | -7.51M | -1.93M | -757.88K |
| CapEx % of Revenue | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1670.93% | 11.57% |
| Acquisitions | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 137.58K | -37.56K | 202.57K | 0 | 0 |
| Investments | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Other Investing | 100K | 0 | 0 | 0 | -137.58K | 37.56K | -202.57K | 0 | 0 |
| Cash from Financing | 889K | 141K | 226.08M | 691K | 219.01M | 1.2M | 329.82M | 49.58M | 87.49K |
| Debt Issued (Net) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64.32M | 49.53M | 0 |
| Equity Issued (Net) | 746K | 141K | 225.07M | 691K | 217.17M | 1.2M | 329.42M | 43.55M | 0 |
| Dividends Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Share Repurchases | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Other Financing | 143K | 0 | 1.01M | 0 | 1.84M | 0 | -63.92M | -43.5M | 87.49K |
| Net Change in Cash | -11.76M | 11.76M | -3.17M | -6.45M | -22.68M | -34.19M | 76.23M | 12.92M | -5.85M |
| Free Cash Flow | -102.31M | -89.91M | -104.11M | -114.31M | -104.11M | -72.95M | -51.02M | -20.3M | -5.94M |
| FCF Margin % | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | -17588.94% | -90.71% |
| FCF Growth % | -9.35% | 13.64% | 8.93% | -9.79% | -42.71% | -43% | -151.38% | -241.56% | - |
| FCF per Share | -1.37 | -1.22 | -1.53 | -2.33 | -2.39 | -2.22 | -1.60 | -2.26 | -0.12 |
| FCF Conversion (FCF/Net Income) | 0.79x | 0.85x | 0.92x | 0.73x | 0.50x | 0.79x | 0.48x | 0.87x | 18.88x |
| Interest Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Taxes Paid | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Quick answers to the most common questions about buying NKTX stock.
Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX) generated $-88.7M in net cash from operating activities in 2025. This reflects the cash generated directly from core business operations.
Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX) reported negative free cash flow of $89.9M in 2025, indicating capital requirements exceeded cash from operations.
Nkarta, Inc. (NKTX) spent $1.2M on capital expenditures in 2025. CapEx represents the cash invested in physical assets like property, plant, and equipment to maintain or grow the business.
Key Metrics
Top Statement Risk
Persistent cash burn dependence
Metrics are mathematically derived from official filings.
Losses Mirror Cash Burn Closely
According to reported quarterly figures, Nkarta's operating cash flow tracked net losses closely, with the operating-cash-to-net-income ratio ranging from about 0.60 to 1.01 across the ten quarters, indicating losses are predominantly cash-driven rather than accrual-driven.
Because net income and operating cash flow move together, the reported losses appear to reflect real cash consumption rather than non-cash charges or accounting distortions. The 2026Q2 ratio of 0.60 is the lowest in the series and may suggest working capital or accrual timing contributed to a narrower cash outflow than the book loss, which warrants further investigation. Investors should monitor whether this gap reverses in subsequent quarters.
Free Cash Flow Deficit Persists Across Periods
Based on reported figures, free cash flow remained negative in every quarter shown, with the deficit ranging from roughly $18.7M to $30.1M per quarter and no revenue base against which to measure a margin.
Free cash flow margins cannot be computed meaningfully because reported revenue is absent in most periods, so the analysis rests on absolute burn rates. The deficit has not trended toward zero over the ten quarters, which suggests the company remains dependent on external capital to sustain operations. Absent a clear path to revenue, the magnitude of the burn appears structural rather than cyclical.
Minimal Capital Intensity Characterizes Operations
As reported in financial statements, Nkarta's capital expenditures were small relative to operating outflows, ranging from roughly $8K to $2.4M per quarter against operating cash burn of up to $29.6M.
The low capex profile suggests the company is an asset-light research operation rather than a manufacturer, so cash consumption is driven almost entirely by operating expenses such as research and development. Depreciation and amortization of roughly $1M to $3M per quarter exceeds most capex figures, which may indicate the asset base is not being meaningfully replenished. This pattern warrants monitoring for any future step-up in facility or manufacturing investment.
No Shareholder Returns Amid Burn
Based on reported figures, Nkarta recorded zero dividends, buybacks, and acquisition outflows across all ten quarters, meaning every dollar of cash burn was funded from balance sheet resources or external financing.
The absence of shareholder distributions is consistent with a company in an investment phase with negative free cash flow, and it does not by itself signal distress. However, the reported figures do not reveal the financing sources used to cover the deficit, so the sustainability of the funding runway cannot be assessed from this data alone. Investors should review the balance sheet and financing disclosures to evaluate how long current resources may last.
Cumulative Losses Without Offsetting Cash Generation
According to the reported ten-quarter series, cumulative net losses and cumulative operating cash outflows both exceed $270M, with no period of positive cash generation offsetting the accumulated deficit.
The cumulative gap between net income and operating cash flow is modest, which suggests the cash reality and earnings reality are largely aligned rather than diverging. This alignment reinforces that the company's losses are economic in nature rather than the product of non-cash accounting charges. The more material question is the cumulative magnitude of burn relative to available resources, which the cash flow data alone cannot resolve.
Stock-Based Compensation Flatters the Cash Picture
As reported in financial statements, stock-based compensation of $1.9M to $4.4M per quarter is a non-cash add-back that narrows the gap between net loss and operating cash burn, so the reported cash outflow may understate the economic cost of employee compensation.
Because SBC is excluded from operating cash flow, part of the real cost of retaining research talent is paid in equity rather than cash, which may cause the cash burn to look more contained than the dilution-driven economic cost. The SBC add-back declined from $4.4M in 2024 to $1.9M in 2026, which may reflect lower equity grants or forfeitures, but this warrants further investigation. Investors should weigh the cash burn figures alongside share count dilution rather than treating operating cash flow as the full measure of resource consumption.