We Think Analog Devices (NASDAQ:ADI) Can Stay On Top Of Its 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.' 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. We can see that Analog Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADI) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

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. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. 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.

View our latest analysis for Analog Devices

What Is Analog Devices's Net Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Analog Devices had US$5.36b of debt in October 2020, down from US$5.63b, one year before. On the flip side, it has US$1.06b in cash leading to net debt of about US$4.30b.

A Look At Analog Devices's Liabilities

According to the last reported balance sheet, Analog Devices had liabilities of US$1.36b due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$8.11b due beyond 12 months. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$1.06b as well as receivables valued at US$737.5m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$7.68b.

Of course, Analog Devices has a titanic market capitalization of US$54.0b, so these liabilities are probably manageable. However, we do think it is worth keeping an eye on its balance sheet strength, as it may change over time.

We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

With a debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.8, Analog Devices uses debt artfully but responsibly. And the alluring interest cover (EBIT of 8.3 times interest expense) certainly does not do anything to dispel this impression. Unfortunately, Analog Devices's EBIT flopped 13% over the last four quarters. If earnings continue to decline at that rate then handling the debt will be more difficult than taking three children under 5 to a fancy pants restaurant. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Analog Devices's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. 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 it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Over the last three years, Analog Devices actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Our View

When it comes to the balance sheet, the standout positive for Analog Devices was the fact that it seems able to convert EBIT to free cash flow confidently. But the other factors we noted above weren't so encouraging. To be specific, it seems about as good at (not) growing its EBIT as wet socks are at keeping your feet warm. When we consider all the elements mentioned above, it seems to us that Analog Devices is managing its debt quite well. But a word of caution: we think debt levels are high enough to justify ongoing monitoring. 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. Be aware that Analog Devices is showing 2 warning signs in our investment analysis , you should know about...

If, after all that, you're more interested in a fast growing company with a rock-solid balance sheet, then check out our list of net cash growth stocks without delay.

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