Stock Analysis

Shiva Texyarn (NSE:SHIVATEX) Has A Pretty Healthy Balance Sheet

NSEI:SHIVATEX
Source: Shutterstock

Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' 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. We can see that Shiva Texyarn Limited (NSE:SHIVATEX) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

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. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Shiva Texyarn

How Much Debt Does Shiva Texyarn Carry?

As you can see below, at the end of March 2022, Shiva Texyarn had ₹1.41b of debt, up from ₹1.20b a year ago. Click the image for more detail. On the flip side, it has ₹98.5m in cash leading to net debt of about ₹1.31b.

debt-equity-history-analysis
NSEI:SHIVATEX Debt to Equity History June 17th 2022

How Strong Is Shiva Texyarn's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Shiva Texyarn had liabilities of ₹1.29b falling due within a year, and liabilities of ₹716.9m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of ₹98.5m and ₹271.1m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total ₹1.64b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

This is a mountain of leverage relative to its market capitalization of ₹1.99b. This suggests shareholders would be heavily diluted if the company needed to shore up its balance sheet in a hurry.

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). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Shiva Texyarn has net debt worth 2.4 times EBITDA, which isn't too much, but its interest cover looks a bit on the low side, with EBIT at only 3.1 times the interest expense. While these numbers do not alarm us, it's worth noting that the cost of the company's debt is having a real impact. It is well worth noting that Shiva Texyarn's EBIT shot up like bamboo after rain, gaining 55% in the last twelve months. That'll make it easier to manage its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Shiva Texyarn will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. During the last three years, Shiva Texyarn generated free cash flow amounting to a very robust 88% of its EBIT, more than we'd expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.

Our View

Shiva Texyarn's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow was a real positive on this analysis, as was its EBIT growth rate. Having said that, its interest cover somewhat sensitizes us to potential future risks to the balance sheet. Considering this range of data points, we think Shiva Texyarn is in a good position to manage its debt levels. Having said that, the load is sufficiently heavy that we would recommend any shareholders keep a close eye on it. 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 Shiva Texyarn has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is potentially serious) we think you should know about.

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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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.