Is Cemtrex (NASDAQ:CETX) A Risky Investment?

Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about.' 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 note that Cemtrex, Inc. (NASDAQ:CETX) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

View our latest analysis for Cemtrex

What Is Cemtrex's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Cemtrex had US$16.5m of debt in June 2020, down from US$23.0m, one year before. However, it also had US$14.7m in cash, and so its net debt is US$1.74m.

A Look At Cemtrex's Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Cemtrex had liabilities of US$14.0m falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$15.3m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had US$14.7m in cash and US$6.74m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total US$7.85m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Cemtrex has a market capitalization of US$22.6m, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. 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 it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Cemtrex's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

While it hasn't made a profit, at least Cemtrex booked its first revenue as a publicly listed company, in the last twelve months.

Caveat Emptor

Importantly, Cemtrex had an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss over the last year. Indeed, it lost a very considerable US$6.3m at the EBIT level. Considering that alongside the liabilities mentioned above does not give us much confidence that company should be using so much debt. Quite frankly we think the balance sheet is far from match-fit, although it could be improved with time. However, it doesn't help that it burned through US$6.3m of cash over the last year. So in short it's a really risky stock. 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. For instance, we've identified 4 warning signs for Cemtrex (1 makes us a bit uncomfortable) you should be aware of.

At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. 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.
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