1. Money

Long Term Debt and the Debt to Equity Ratio on the Balance Sheet

Investing Lesson 3 - Analyzing a Balance Sheet


Debt to Equity Ratio

Debt can increase a company's return on equity, but too much can take a company into bankruptcy. The key is to calculate something known as the debt to equity ratio, which tells you how much debt a company has for every $1 in net worth.

The amount of long term debt on a company's balance sheet is crucial. It refers to money the company owes that it doesn't expect to pay off in the next year. Long term debt consists of things such as mortgages on corporate buildings and / or land, bank loans, and, the biggest item of them all, bonds issued to fixed income investors from whom the corporation raises money in exchange for the promise to return those funds in the future, while paying interest in the meantime (in the United States, the customary practice is for interest to be paid twice a year, in six-month intervals, with the principal balance returned on the maturity date, though many exceptions do exist so it is important you read the prospectus if you ever consider acquiring a bond investment).

A great sign of prosperity is when a balance sheet shows the amount of long term debt has been decreasing for one or more years. When debt shrinks and cash increases, the balance sheet is said to be "improving". When it's the other way around, it is said to be "deteriorating". Companies with too much long term debt will find themselves overwhelmed with interest payments, a risk of having too little working capital, and ultimately, bankruptcy. Thankfully, there is a financial tool that can help indicate whether or not a business has borrowed too much money relative to the amount of capital the owners have invested in the firm.

Debt to Equity Ratio

The debt to equity ratio measures how much money a company should be able to borrow, safely, over long periods of time. It achieves this by comparing the company's total debt (including short term and long term obligations) and dividing it by the amount of shareholder equity. (We haven't covered shareholder equity yet, but we will later. For now, you only need to know that the number can be found at the bottom of the balance sheet. You'll actually calculate the debt to equity ratio in segment two when we look at real balance sheets.

The result you get after dividing debt by equity is the percentage of the company that is indebted (or "leveraged"). The normal level of debt to equity has changed over time, and depends on both economic factors and society's general feeling towards credit. Generally, any company that has a debt to equity ratio of over 40% to 50% should be looked at more carefully to make sure there are no liquidity problems. If you find the company's working capital, and current ratio / quick ratios drastically low, this is is a sign of serious financial weakness.

Long Term Debt Can Be Profitable for Many Firms

If a business can earn a higher rate of return on capital than the interest rate at which it borrows on its long term debt, it is profitable for the business to borrow money. (An example: If a corporation earned 15% on its investments and borrowed funds at 8%, it would make 7% on the borrowed money [15% return - 8% cost of money = 7% net profit]. This boosts what analysts call "Return on Equity". We will talk about Return on Equity, or ROE, in a future lesson. It is briefly touched on in the Retained Earnings section of this lesson.)

The trick for management is to know how much debt is too much. Leverage can be tricky as it juices returns on the upside, but can wipe out the owners much faster if things go south in an economic recession or depression. That's never a situation in which you want to find yourself when it's your family's money on the line. One way the markets keep corporations in check is by assigning lower interest rates to companies that are perceived as "safer" due to having less debt or more stable cash flows. As a business begins to borrow more and more, it's cost of debt would increase to the point the return calculation changes.

Another major risk that you, the investor, need to guard against is owning a business with a lot of long-term debt taken out when interest rates are low, but needing to be refinanced within the next 5 or 10 years. If the debt comes up for repayment, and the company doesn't have the funds to repay the balance, it's going to require a new debt issuance. In the end, this means interest costs increase, which is going to result in lower profits on the income statement.

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