Does ASMPT (HKG:522) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

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.' 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 can see that ASMPT Limited (HKG:522) does use debt in its business. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt Dangerous?

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. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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, 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 step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for ASMPT

What Is ASMPT's Debt?

As you can see below, ASMPT had HK$2.00b of debt at December 2023, down from HK$2.25b a year prior. However, it does have HK$4.80b in cash offsetting this, leading to net cash of HK$2.80b.

A Look At ASMPT's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that ASMPT had liabilities of HK$6.01b falling due within a year, and liabilities of HK$2.15b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had HK$4.80b in cash and HK$4.04b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it actually has HK$685.0m more liquid assets than total liabilities.

This state of affairs indicates that ASMPT's balance sheet looks quite solid, as its total liabilities are just about equal to its liquid assets. So it's very unlikely that the HK$40.0b company is short on cash, but still worth keeping an eye on the balance sheet. Succinctly put, ASMPT boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!

It is just as well that ASMPT's load is not too heavy, because its EBIT was down 66% over the last year. Falling earnings (if the trend continues) could eventually make even modest debt quite risky. 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 ASMPT's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. 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 ASMPT 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 most recent three years, ASMPT recorded free cash flow worth 77% of its EBIT, which is around normal, given free cash flow excludes interest and tax. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

Summing Up

While it is always sensible to investigate a company's debt, in this case ASMPT has HK$2.80b in net cash and a decent-looking balance sheet. And it impressed us with free cash flow of HK$1.9b, being 77% of its EBIT. So we are not troubled with ASMPT's debt use. 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 ASMPT is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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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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.