These 4 Measures Indicate That Titanium Transportation Group (CVE:TTR) Is Using Debt Reasonably Well

Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about.' So it might be obvious that you need to consider debt, when you think about how risky any given stock is, because too much debt can sink a company. We can see that Titanium Transportation Group Inc. (CVE:TTR) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free 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. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Titanium Transportation Group

What Is Titanium Transportation Group's Net Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of September 2021, Titanium Transportation Group had CA$54.9m of debt, up from CA$22.0m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. On the flip side, it has CA$13.9m in cash leading to net debt of about CA$41.0m.

How Strong Is Titanium Transportation Group's Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Titanium Transportation Group had liabilities of CA$60.0m due within 12 months, and liabilities of CA$94.4m due beyond 12 months. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of CA$13.9m as well as receivables valued at CA$61.0m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by CA$79.3m.

This is a mountain of leverage relative to its market capitalization of CA$115.9m. Should its lenders demand that it shore up the balance sheet, shareholders would likely face severe dilution.

We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Titanium Transportation Group's net debt is sitting at a very reasonable 2.4 times its EBITDA, while its EBIT covered its interest expense just 3.0 times last year. While that doesn't worry us too much, it does suggest the interest payments are somewhat of a burden. If Titanium Transportation Group can keep growing EBIT at last year's rate of 19% over the last year, then it will find its debt load easier to manage. 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 Titanium Transportation 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.

Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. Over the last three years, Titanium Transportation Group 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.

Our View

On our analysis Titanium Transportation Group's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow should signal that it won't have too much trouble with its debt. However, our other observations weren't so heartening. For instance it seems like it has to struggle a bit to cover its interest expense with its EBIT. Considering this range of data points, we think Titanium Transportation Group is in a good position to manage its debt levels. But a word of caution: we think debt levels are high enough to justify ongoing monitoring. 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. Be aware that Titanium Transportation Group is showing 7 warning signs in our investment analysis , and 1 of those is potentially serious...

If you're interested in investing in businesses that can grow profits without the burden of debt, then check out this free list of growing businesses that have net cash on the balance sheet.

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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.