Here's Why TVS Motor (NSE:TVSMOTOR) Has A Meaningful Debt Burden

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. Importantly, TVS Motor Company Limited (NSE:TVSMOTOR) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. 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. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

Check out our latest analysis for TVS Motor

What Is TVS Motor's Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at September 2022 TVS Motor had debt of ₹181.9b, up from ₹132.5b in one year. However, it also had ₹23.6b in cash, and so its net debt is ₹158.3b.

How Strong Is TVS Motor's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that TVS Motor had liabilities of ₹157.5b due within 12 months and liabilities of ₹99.3b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had ₹23.6b in cash and ₹104.7b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling ₹128.5b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since TVS Motor has a market capitalization of ₹496.1b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).

TVS Motor has a debt to EBITDA ratio of 4.7 and its EBIT covered its interest expense 2.6 times. This suggests that while the debt levels are significant, we'd stop short of calling them problematic. The good news is that TVS Motor grew its EBIT a smooth 34% over the last twelve months. Like a mother's loving embrace of a newborn that sort of growth builds resilience, putting the company in a stronger position to manage its debt. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine TVS Motor'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, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. During the last three years, TVS Motor burned a lot of cash. While that may be a result of expenditure for growth, it does make the debt far more risky.

Our View

TVS Motor's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow and net debt to EBITDA definitely weigh on it, in our esteem. But its EBIT growth rate tells a very different story, and suggests some resilience. Taking the abovementioned factors together we do think TVS Motor's debt poses some risks to the business. While that debt can boost returns, we think the company has enough leverage now. 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. For example, we've discovered 2 warning signs for TVS Motor that you should be aware of before investing here.

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.