Is PesoRama (CVE:PESO) A Risky Investment?

Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' 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. As with many other companies PesoRama Inc. (CVE:PESO) makes use of debt. 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. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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. 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.

View our latest analysis for PesoRama

How Much Debt Does PesoRama Carry?

As you can see below, at the end of October 2023, PesoRama had CA$4.73m of debt, up from none a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, because it has a cash reserve of CA$2.20m, its net debt is less, at about CA$2.54m.

How Strong Is PesoRama's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that PesoRama had liabilities of CA$8.00m due within 12 months and liabilities of CA$7.43m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had CA$2.20m in cash and CA$229.3k in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by CA$13.0m.

This deficit is considerable relative to its market capitalization of CA$17.7m, so it does suggest shareholders should keep an eye on PesoRama's use of debt. This suggests shareholders would be heavily diluted if the company needed to shore up its balance sheet in a hurry. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since PesoRama will need earnings to service that debt. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.

In the last year PesoRama wasn't profitable at an EBIT level, but managed to grow its revenue by 56%, to CA$19m. Shareholders probably have their fingers crossed that it can grow its way to profits.

Caveat Emptor

Despite the top line growth, PesoRama still had an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss over the last year. Its EBIT loss was a whopping CA$8.2m. Considering that alongside the liabilities mentioned above does not give us much confidence that company should be using so much debt. So we think its balance sheet is a little strained, though not beyond repair. Another cause for caution is that is bled CA$3.2m in negative free cash flow over the last twelve months. So suffice it to say we consider the stock very risky. 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 instance, we've identified 5 warning signs for PesoRama (2 are significant) you should be aware of.

At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.

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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.