Leon's Furniture (TSE:LNF) Could Easily Take On More Debt

The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says '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. We note that Leon's Furniture Limited (TSE:LNF) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Leon's Furniture

How Much Debt Does Leon's Furniture Carry?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Leon's Furniture had CA$90.5m of debt in December 2020, down from CA$143.8m, one year before. But it also has CA$490.8m in cash to offset that, meaning it has CA$400.4m net cash.

A Look At Leon's Furniture's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Leon's Furniture had liabilities of CA$820.7m falling due within a year, and liabilities of CA$581.8m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had CA$490.8m in cash and CA$134.8m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling CA$776.9m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

This deficit isn't so bad because Leon's Furniture is worth CA$1.74b, and thus could probably raise enough capital to shore up its balance sheet, if the need arose. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Leon's Furniture also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.

On top of that, Leon's Furniture grew its EBIT by 39% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Leon's Furniture can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. While Leon's Furniture 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. Over the last three years, Leon's Furniture actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Summing up

Although Leon's Furniture's balance sheet isn't particularly strong, due to the total liabilities, it is clearly positive to see that it has net cash of CA$400.4m. And it impressed us with free cash flow of CA$467m, being 150% of its EBIT. So we don't think Leon's Furniture's use of debt is risky. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Leon's Furniture 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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