Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' 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, Savor Limited (NZSE:SVR) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?
When Is Debt Dangerous?
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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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, 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.
Check out our latest analysis for Savor
What Is Savor's Debt?
You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Savor had NZ$7.43m of debt in September 2020, down from NZ$9.64m, one year before. On the flip side, it has NZ$3.69m in cash leading to net debt of about NZ$3.75m.
A Look At Savor's Liabilities
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Savor had liabilities of NZ$9.06m due within 12 months and liabilities of NZ$14.5m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of NZ$3.69m and NZ$2.05m worth of receivables due within a year. So it has liabilities totalling NZ$17.8m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.
Savor has a market capitalization of NZ$32.2m, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is Savor's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. 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.
Over 12 months, Savor reported revenue of NZ$26m, which is a gain of 13%, although it did not report any earnings before interest and tax. We usually like to see faster growth from unprofitable companies, but each to their own.
Caveat Emptor
Importantly, Savor had an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss over the last year. Indeed, it lost NZ$894k at the EBIT level. 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. For example, we would not want to see a repeat of last year's loss of NZ$2.9m. So in short it's a really risky stock. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. For example, we've discovered 4 warning signs for Savor (2 shouldn't be ignored!) that you should be aware of before investing here.
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. 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.
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About NZSE:SVR
Slight and slightly overvalued.
