Does Safe Bulkers (NYSE:SB) Have A Healthy Balance Sheet?

Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We note that Safe Bulkers, Inc. (NYSE:SB) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

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. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basement prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. Of course, the upside of debt is that it often represents cheap capital, especially when it replaces dilution in a company with the ability to reinvest at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

See our latest analysis for Safe Bulkers

How Much Debt Does Safe Bulkers Carry?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at June 2020 Safe Bulkers had debt of US$627.0m, up from US$568.5m in one year. On the flip side, it has US$99.1m in cash leading to net debt of about US$527.8m.

How Strong Is Safe Bulkers's Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Safe Bulkers had liabilities of US$89.3m due within a year, and liabilities of US$566.8m falling due after that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$99.1m and US$4.99m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$552.0m.

This deficit casts a shadow over the US$102.1m company, like a colossus towering over mere mortals. So we definitely think shareholders need to watch this one closely. After all, Safe Bulkers would likely require a major re-capitalisation if it had to pay its creditors today.

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). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Safe Bulkers shareholders face the double whammy of a high net debt to EBITDA ratio (8.2), and fairly weak interest coverage, since EBIT is just 0.47 times the interest expense. The debt burden here is substantial. Even worse, Safe Bulkers saw its EBIT tank 77% over the last 12 months. If earnings continue to follow that trajectory, paying off that debt load will be harder than convincing us to run a marathon in the rain. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Safe Bulkers 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.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. Over the last three years, Safe Bulkers reported free cash flow worth 8.9% of its EBIT, which is really quite low. That limp level of cash conversion undermines its ability to manage and pay down debt.

Our View

On the face of it, Safe Bulkers's EBIT growth rate left us tentative about the stock, and its level of total liabilities was no more enticing than the one empty restaurant on the busiest night of the year. And even its net debt to EBITDA fails to inspire much confidence. Considering everything we've mentioned above, it's fair to say that Safe Bulkers is carrying heavy debt load. If you harvest honey without a bee suit, you risk getting stung, so we'd probably stay away from this particular stock. 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. Be aware that Safe Bulkers is showing 1 warning sign in our investment analysis , you should know about...

Of course, if you're the type of investor who prefers buying stocks without the burden of debt, then don't hesitate to discover our exclusive list of net cash growth stocks, today.

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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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