Does CeriBell (NASDAQ:CBLL) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

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.' 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, CeriBell, Inc. (NASDAQ:CBLL) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

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When Is Debt Dangerous?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. 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 step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

What Is CeriBell's Debt?

The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that CeriBell had US$19.7m in debt in June 2025; about the same as the year before. However, it does have US$177.4m in cash offsetting this, leading to net cash of US$157.7m.

How Strong Is CeriBell's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that CeriBell had liabilities of US$15.0m due within 12 months and liabilities of US$20.5m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had US$177.4m in cash and US$12.3m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it actually has US$154.2m more liquid assets than total liabilities.

This luscious liquidity implies that CeriBell's balance sheet is sturdy like a giant sequoia tree. On this view, lenders should feel as safe as the beloved of a black-belt karate master. Succinctly put, CeriBell boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load! 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 CeriBell 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.

Check out our latest analysis for CeriBell

In the last year CeriBell wasn't profitable at an EBIT level, but managed to grow its revenue by 42%, to US$77m. Shareholders probably have their fingers crossed that it can grow its way to profits.

So How Risky Is CeriBell?

Statistically speaking companies that lose money are riskier than those that make money. And the fact is that over the last twelve months CeriBell lost money at the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) line. Indeed, in that time it burnt through US$38m of cash and made a loss of US$49m. But the saving grace is the US$157.7m on the balance sheet. That means it could keep spending at its current rate for more than two years. With very solid revenue growth in the last year, CeriBell may be on a path to profitability. By investing before those profits, shareholders take on more risk in the hope of bigger rewards. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. Be aware that CeriBell is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

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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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. 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.