Is Bright Horizons Family Solutions (NYSE:BFAM) A Risky Investment?
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.' 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. As with many other companies Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. (NYSE:BFAM) makes use of debt. But the real question is whether this debt is making the company risky.
When Is Debt A Problem?
Debt assists a business until the business has trouble paying it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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, 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. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.
Check out our latest analysis for Bright Horizons Family Solutions
What Is Bright Horizons Family Solutions's Net Debt?
The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Bright Horizons Family Solutions had debt of US$1.05b at the end of June 2019, a reduction from US$1.16b over a year. However, it also had US$31.7m in cash, and so its net debt is US$1.01b.
A Look At Bright Horizons Family Solutions's Liabilities
We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Bright Horizons Family Solutions had liabilities of US$453.3m falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$1.86b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had US$31.7m in cash and US$111.5m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling US$2.17b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions has a market capitalization of US$9.28b, 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.
We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (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).
Bright Horizons Family Solutions's debt is 2.8 times its EBITDA, and its EBIT cover its interest expense 5.4 times over. This suggests that while the debt levels are significant, we'd stop short of calling them problematic. If Bright Horizons Family Solutions can keep growing EBIT at last year's rate of 16% over the last year, then it will find its debt load easier to manage. 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 Bright Horizons Family Solutions 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 the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. During the last three years, Bright Horizons Family Solutions produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 77% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This free cash flow puts the company in a good position to pay down debt, when appropriate.
Our View
Bright Horizons Family Solutions's conversion of EBIT to free cash flow suggests it can handle its debt as easily as Cristiano Ronaldo could score a goal against an under 14's goalkeeper. But truth be told we feel its net debt to EBITDA does undermine this impression a bit. When we consider the range of factors above, it looks like Bright Horizons Family Solutions 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. We'd be motivated to research the stock further if we found out that Bright Horizons Family Solutions insiders have bought shares recently. If you would too, then you're in luck, since today we're sharing our list of reported insider transactions for free.
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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If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. 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. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.
