Is Taylor Morrison Home (NYSE:TMHC) Using Too Much Debt?

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.' 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. We note that Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (NYSE:TMHC) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

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. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Taylor Morrison Home

How Much Debt Does Taylor Morrison Home Carry?

As you can see below, at the end of September 2020, Taylor Morrison Home had US$3.17b of debt, up from US$2.12b a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, it also had US$554.7m in cash, and so its net debt is US$2.62b.

A Look At Taylor Morrison Home's Liabilities

The latest balance sheet data shows that Taylor Morrison Home had liabilities of US$983.7m due within a year, and liabilities of US$3.31b falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$554.7m and US$90.7m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$3.65b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's US$2.95b market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. In the scenario where the company had to clean up its balance sheet quickly, it seems likely shareholders would suffer extensive dilution.

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).

Strangely Taylor Morrison Home has a sky high EBITDA ratio of 5.5, implying high debt, but a strong interest coverage of 1k. This means that unless the company has access to very cheap debt, that interest expense will likely grow in the future. Taylor Morrison Home grew its EBIT by 6.7% in the last year. Whilst that hardly knocks our socks off it is a positive when it comes to 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 Taylor Morrison Home can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Happily for any shareholders, Taylor Morrison Home actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last three years. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces.

Our View

We feel some trepidation about Taylor Morrison Home's difficulty net debt to EBITDA, but we've got positives to focus on, too. For example, its interest cover and conversion of EBIT to free cash flow give us some confidence in its ability to manage its debt. We think that Taylor Morrison Home's debt does make it a bit risky, after considering the aforementioned data points together. That's not necessarily a bad thing, since leverage can boost returns on equity, but it is something to be aware of. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. Consider risks, for instance. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Taylor Morrison Home 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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