Is Teledyne Technologies (NYSE:TDY) Using Too Much Debt?

Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' 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 can see that Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:TDY) does use debt in its business. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.

When Is Debt A Problem?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. 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 Teledyne Technologies

What Is Teledyne Technologies's Net Debt?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at July 2021 Teledyne Technologies had debt of US$4.74b, up from US$855.3m in one year. On the flip side, it has US$695.1m in cash leading to net debt of about US$4.05b.

How Strong Is Teledyne Technologies' Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Teledyne Technologies had liabilities of US$1.05b due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$5.86b due beyond 12 months. Offsetting this, it had US$695.1m in cash and US$963.3m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total US$5.25b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

Teledyne Technologies has a very large market capitalization of US$19.7b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. 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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

As it happens Teledyne Technologies has a fairly concerning net debt to EBITDA ratio of 5.0 but very strong interest coverage of 13.0. So either it has access to very cheap long term debt or that interest expense is going to grow! It is well worth noting that Teledyne Technologies's EBIT shot up like bamboo after rain, gaining 36% in the last twelve months. That'll make it easier to manage its 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 Teledyne Technologies 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, Teledyne Technologies recorded free cash flow worth a fulsome 91% 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, Teledyne Technologies's impressive interest cover implies it has the upper hand on its debt. But the stark truth is that we are concerned by its net debt to EBITDA. Zooming out, Teledyne Technologies seems to use debt quite reasonably; and that gets the nod from us. After all, sensible leverage can boost returns on equity. 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. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 3 warning signs for Teledyne Technologies (of which 1 is a bit concerning!) 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.

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.

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