Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) Seems To Use Debt Rather Sparingly

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.' So it seems the smart money knows that debt - which is usually involved in bankruptcies - is a very important factor, when you assess how risky a company is. Importantly, Amedisys, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMED) does carry debt. 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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. By replacing dilution, though, debt can be an extremely good tool for businesses that need capital to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Amedisys

What Is Amedisys's Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of September 2020, Amedisys had US$308.6m of debt, up from US$236.9m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, it also had US$112.9m in cash, and so its net debt is US$195.7m.

A Look At Amedisys's Liabilities

The latest balance sheet data shows that Amedisys had liabilities of US$437.5m due within a year, and liabilities of US$407.5m falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had US$112.9m in cash and US$250.8m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling US$481.3m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

Of course, Amedisys has a market capitalization of US$9.48b, so these liabilities are probably manageable. Having said that, it's clear that we should continue to monitor its balance sheet, lest it change for the worse.

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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

Amedisys has a low net debt to EBITDA ratio of only 0.85. And its EBIT easily covers its interest expense, being 17.9 times the size. So you could argue it is no more threatened by its debt than an elephant is by a mouse. And we also note warmly that Amedisys grew its EBIT by 19% last year, making its debt load easier to handle. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Amedisys 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 we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. Happily for any shareholders, Amedisys actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last three years. That sort of strong cash generation warms our hearts like a puppy in a bumblebee suit.

Our View

Amedisys's interest cover suggests it can handle its debt as easily as Cristiano Ronaldo could score a goal against an under 14's goalkeeper. And that's just the beginning of the good news since its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow is also very heartening. It's also worth noting that Amedisys is in the Healthcare industry, which is often considered to be quite defensive. Overall, we don't think Amedisys is taking any bad risks, as its debt load seems modest. So we're not worried about the use of a little leverage on the balance sheet. 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. Case in point: We've spotted 1 warning sign for Amedisys 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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