Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Seems To Use Debt Rather Sparingly
Legendary fund manager Li Lu (who Charlie Munger backed) once said, 'The biggest investment risk is not the volatility of prices, but whether you will suffer a permanent loss of capital.' 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. As with many other companies Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
What Risk Does Debt Bring?
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. 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. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.
View our latest analysis for Alphabet
What Is Alphabet's Debt?
The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Alphabet had US$12.9b in debt in September 2022; about the same as the year before. However, its balance sheet shows it holds US$116.3b in cash, so it actually has US$103.4b net cash.
How Healthy Is Alphabet's Balance Sheet?
The latest balance sheet data shows that Alphabet had liabilities of US$66.0b due within a year, and liabilities of US$38.7b falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had US$116.3b in cash and US$36.2b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it can boast US$47.8b more liquid assets than total liabilities.
This surplus suggests that Alphabet has a conservative balance sheet, and could probably eliminate its debt without much difficulty. Succinctly put, Alphabet boasts net cash, so it's fair to say it does not have a heavy debt load!
Fortunately, Alphabet grew its EBIT by 8.4% in the last year, making that debt load look even more manageable. 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 Alphabet'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. While Alphabet has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. During the last three years, Alphabet generated free cash flow amounting to a very robust 87% of its EBIT, more than we'd expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.
Summing Up
While it is always sensible to investigate a company's debt, in this case Alphabet has US$103.4b in net cash and a decent-looking balance sheet. And it impressed us with free cash flow of US$63b, being 87% of its EBIT. So is Alphabet's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. Over time, share prices tend to follow earnings per share, so if you're interested in Alphabet, you may well want to click here to check an interactive graph of its earnings per share history.
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.
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.
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.
Join A Paid User Research Session
You’ll receive a US$30 Amazon Gift card for 1 hour of your time while helping us build better investing tools for the individual investors like yourself. Sign up here
