Here's Why GP Strategies (NYSE:GPX) Has A Meaningful Debt Burden

David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the 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 GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE:GPX) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for GP Strategies

What Is GP Strategies's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that GP Strategies had US$57.7m of debt in June 2020, down from US$119.7m, one year before. However, it also had US$12.1m in cash, and so its net debt is US$45.6m.

How Strong Is GP Strategies's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that GP Strategies had liabilities of US$100.8m due within a year, and liabilities of US$90.2m falling due after that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$12.1m as well as receivables valued at US$139.9m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$39.0m.

This deficit isn't so bad because GP Strategies is worth US$188.6m, and thus could probably raise enough capital to shore up its balance sheet, if the need arose. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

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

While GP Strategies has a quite reasonable net debt to EBITDA multiple of 2.4, its interest cover seems weak, at 2.2. This does suggest the company is paying fairly high interest rates. Either way there's no doubt the stock is using meaningful leverage. Shareholders should be aware that GP Strategies's EBIT was down 42% last year. If that decline continues then paying off debt will be harder than selling foie gras at a vegan convention. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine GP Strategies's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. Over the last three years, GP Strategies actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash generation warms our hearts like a puppy in a bumblebee suit.

Our View

Neither GP Strategies's ability to grow its EBIT nor its interest cover gave us confidence in its ability to take on more debt. But the good news is it seems to be able to convert EBIT to free cash flow with ease. We think that GP Strategies's debt does make it a bit risky, after considering the aforementioned data points together. Not all risk is bad, as it can boost share price returns if it pays off, but this debt risk is worth keeping in mind. 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. Consider for instance, the ever-present spectre of investment risk. We've identified 2 warning signs with GP Strategies , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

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