Does Frontera Energy (TSE:FEC) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the 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 Frontera Energy Corporation (TSE:FEC) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. By replacing dilution, though, debt can be an extremely good tool for businesses that need capital to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

Check out our latest analysis for Frontera Energy

What Is Frontera Energy's Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at December 2020 Frontera Energy had debt of US$539.0m, up from US$331.1m in one year. However, because it has a cash reserve of US$232.3m, its net debt is less, at about US$306.8m.

How Healthy Is Frontera Energy's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Frontera Energy had liabilities of US$731.8m due within a year, and liabilities of US$567.2m falling due after that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$232.3m as well as receivables valued at US$143.4m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$923.4m.

This deficit casts a shadow over the US$533.2m company, like a colossus towering over mere mortals. So we'd watch its balance sheet closely, without a doubt. After all, Frontera Energy would likely require a major re-capitalisation if it had to pay its creditors today. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Frontera Energy can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Over 12 months, Frontera Energy made a loss at the EBIT level, and saw its revenue drop to US$649m, which is a fall of 53%. To be frank that doesn't bode well.

Caveat Emptor

While Frontera Energy's falling revenue is about as heartwarming as a wet blanket, arguably its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss is even less appealing. Its EBIT loss was a whopping US$293m. Considering that alongside the liabilities mentioned above make us nervous about the company. It would need to improve its operations quickly for us to be interested in it. For example, we would not want to see a repeat of last year's loss of US$497m. And until that time we think this is a risky stock. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. For example - Frontera Energy has 1 warning sign we think you should be aware of.

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.

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