Does Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

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.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We can see that Transurban Group (ASX:TCL) does use debt in its business. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Transurban Group

What Is Transurban Group's Net Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Transurban Group had AU$18.5b of debt in June 2021, down from AU$21.8b, one year before. On the flip side, it has AU$4.29b in cash leading to net debt of about AU$14.2b.

How Strong Is Transurban Group's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Transurban Group had liabilities of AU$3.06b falling due within a year, and liabilities of AU$21.5b due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of AU$4.29b as well as receivables valued at AU$261.0m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by AU$20.0b.

This deficit isn't so bad because Transurban Group is worth a massive AU$42.2b, and thus could probably raise enough capital to shore up its balance sheet, if the need arose. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Transurban Group shareholders face the double whammy of a high net debt to EBITDA ratio (8.4), and fairly weak interest coverage, since EBIT is just 0.76 times the interest expense. The debt burden here is substantial. Even more troubling is the fact that Transurban Group actually let its EBIT decrease by 7.8% over the last year. If that earnings trend continues the company will face an uphill battle to pay off its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Transurban Group's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. During the last three years, Transurban Group burned a lot of cash. While that may be a result of expenditure for growth, it does make the debt far more risky.

Our View

On the face of it, Transurban Group's interest cover left us tentative about the stock, and its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow was no more enticing than the one empty restaurant on the busiest night of the year. Having said that, its ability to handle its total liabilities isn't such a worry. It's also worth noting that Transurban Group is in the Infrastructure industry, which is often considered to be quite defensive. Overall, it seems to us that Transurban Group's balance sheet is really quite a risk to the business. For this reason we're pretty cautious about the stock, and we think shareholders should keep a close eye on its liquidity. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. For example Transurban Group has 3 warning signs (and 2 which are concerning) we think you should know about.

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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.

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