Is Magnite (NASDAQ:MGNI) A Risky Investment?

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 Magnite, Inc. (NASDAQ:MGNI) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

When Is Debt A Problem?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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. 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 examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

See our latest analysis for Magnite

What Is Magnite's Net Debt?

As you can see below, at the end of December 2021, Magnite had US$723.6m of debt, up from none a year ago. Click the image for more detail. On the flip side, it has US$230.4m in cash leading to net debt of about US$493.2m.

How Healthy Is Magnite's Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Magnite had liabilities of US$1.03b due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$802.5m due beyond 12 months. On the other hand, it had cash of US$230.4m and US$927.8m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$673.7m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Magnite has a market capitalization of US$1.46b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate 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. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Magnite 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.

In the last year Magnite wasn't profitable at an EBIT level, but managed to grow its revenue by 111%, to US$468m. So its pretty obvious shareholders are hoping for more growth!

Caveat Emptor

While we can certainly appreciate Magnite's revenue growth, its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss is not ideal. To be specific the EBIT loss came in at US$43m. When we look at that and recall the liabilities on its balance sheet, relative to cash, it seems unwise to us for the company to have any debt. Quite frankly we think the balance sheet is far from match-fit, although it could be improved with time. Surprisingly, we note that it actually reported positive free cash flow of US$97m and a profit of US$65k. So if we focus on those metrics there seems to be a chance the company will manage its debt without much trouble. 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. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 5 warning signs for Magnite (of which 2 shouldn't be ignored!) 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.