Yahoo Finance We Think Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) Can Manage Its Debt With Ease
Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. Importantly, Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?
When Is Debt A Problem?
Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.
See our latest analysis for Wesfarmers
How Much Debt Does Wesfarmers Carry?
As you can see below, Wesfarmers had AU$1.99b of debt at December 2020, down from AU$2.95b a year prior. However, its balance sheet shows it holds AU$2.68b in cash, so it actually has AU$689.0m net cash.
A Look At Wesfarmers' Liabilities
The latest balance sheet data shows that Wesfarmers had liabilities of AU$8.20b due within a year, and liabilities of AU$7.71b falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had AU$2.68b in cash and AU$894.0m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by AU$12.3b.
While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Wesfarmers has a huge market capitalization of AU$61.4b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. However, it is still worthwhile taking a close look at its ability to pay off debt. Despite its noteworthy liabilities, Wesfarmers boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!
Also positive, Wesfarmers grew its EBIT by 28% in the last year, and that should make it easier to pay down debt, going forward. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Wesfarmers's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. While Wesfarmers has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. During the last three years, Wesfarmers generated free cash flow amounting to a very robust 85% of its EBIT, more than we'd expect. That puts it in a very strong position to pay down debt.
Summing up
While Wesfarmers does have more liabilities than liquid assets, it also has net cash of AU$689.0m. The cherry on top was that in converted 85% of that EBIT to free cash flow, bringing in AU$3.8b. So we don't think Wesfarmers's use of debt is risky. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 1 warning sign for Wesfarmers you should know about.
If, after all that, you're more interested in a fast growing company with a rock-solid balance sheet, then check out our list of net cash growth stocks without delay.
This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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