We Think Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ:NSIT) Can Stay On Top Of Its Debt

The external fund manager backed by Berkshire Hathaway's Charlie Munger, Li Lu, makes no bones about it when he says '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, Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:NSIT) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. 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. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Insight Enterprises

What Is Insight Enterprises's Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at September 2024 Insight Enterprises had debt of US$1.32b, up from US$940.7m in one year. On the flip side, it has US$317.4m in cash leading to net debt of about US$1.00b.

How Healthy Is Insight Enterprises' Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Insight Enterprises had liabilities of US$3.74b falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$1.78b due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$317.4m as well as receivables valued at US$3.98b due within 12 months. So its liabilities total US$1.22b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Insight Enterprises has a market capitalization of US$5.16b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution.

In order to size up a company's debt relative to its earnings, we calculate its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) divided by its interest expense (its interest cover). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).

With a debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.9, Insight Enterprises uses debt artfully but responsibly. And the alluring interest cover (EBIT of 8.5 times interest expense) certainly does not do anything to dispel this impression. Insight Enterprises grew its EBIT by 5.4% in the last year. That's far from incredible but it is a good thing, when it comes to paying off debt. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Insight Enterprises 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.

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. Over the last three years, Insight Enterprises recorded free cash flow worth a fulsome 98% of its EBIT, which is stronger than we'd usually expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.

Our View

Happily, Insight Enterprises's impressive conversion of EBIT to free cash flow implies it has the upper hand on its debt. And its interest cover is good too. When we consider the range of factors above, it looks like Insight Enterprises is pretty sensible with its use of debt. That means they are taking on a bit more risk, in the hope of boosting shareholder returns. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Insight Enterprises .

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

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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.