Is Cyfrowy Polsat (WSE:CPS) Using Too Much Debt?

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.' 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 Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. (WSE:CPS) does use debt in its business. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. 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. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for Cyfrowy Polsat

What Is Cyfrowy Polsat's Net Debt?

The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Cyfrowy Polsat had zł11.7b in debt in March 2021; about the same as the year before. On the flip side, it has zł1.15b in cash leading to net debt of about zł10.5b.

How Healthy Is Cyfrowy Polsat's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Cyfrowy Polsat had liabilities of zł5.29b due within 12 months and liabilities of zł12.3b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of zł1.15b and zł2.90b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by zł13.5b.

This is a mountain of leverage relative to its market capitalization of zł18.9b. This suggests shareholders would be heavily diluted if the company needed to shore up its balance sheet in a hurry.

In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). 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).

Cyfrowy Polsat's debt is 2.9 times its EBITDA, and its EBIT cover its interest expense 6.4 times over. This suggests that while the debt levels are significant, we'd stop short of calling them problematic. We saw Cyfrowy Polsat grow its EBIT by 3.3% in the last twelve months. That's far from incredible but it is a good thing, when it comes to paying off debt. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Cyfrowy Polsat can strengthen its balance sheet over time. 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. Over the last three years, Cyfrowy Polsat 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

When it comes to the balance sheet, the standout positive for Cyfrowy Polsat was the fact that it seems able to convert EBIT to free cash flow confidently. However, our other observations weren't so heartening. For instance it seems like it has to struggle a bit to handle its total liabilities. Looking at all this data makes us feel a little cautious about Cyfrowy Polsat's debt levels. While debt does have its upside in higher potential returns, we think shareholders should definitely consider how debt levels might make the stock more risky. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 2 warning signs for Cyfrowy Polsat you should be aware of.

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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