Here's Why Live Ventures (NASDAQ:LIVE) Is Weighed Down By Its Debt Load
David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital.' So it might be obvious that you need to consider debt, when you think about how risky any given stock is, because too much debt can sink a company. Importantly, Live Ventures Incorporated (NASDAQ:LIVE) 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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. 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 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 Live Ventures
What Is Live Ventures's Debt?
As you can see below, Live Ventures had US$62.2m of debt at June 2019, down from US$79.8m a year prior. On the flip side, it has US$2.42m in cash leading to net debt of about US$59.7m.
How Healthy Is Live Ventures's Balance Sheet?
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Live Ventures had liabilities of US$28.5m due within 12 months and liabilities of US$54.8m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$2.42m as well as receivables valued at US$11.4m due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$69.5m.
The deficiency here weighs heavily on the US$14.2m company itself, as if a child were struggling under the weight of an enormous back-pack full of books, his sports gear, and a trumpet. So we definitely think shareholders need to watch this one closely. After all, Live Ventures 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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.
While we wouldn't worry about Live Ventures's net debt to EBITDA ratio of 3.9, we think its super-low interest cover of 1.5 times is a sign of high leverage. It seems clear that the cost of borrowing money is negatively impacting returns for shareholders, of late. Worse, Live Ventures's EBIT was down 22% over the last year. If earnings keep going like that over the long term, it has a snowball's chance in hell of paying off that debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is Live Ventures's earnings that will influence how the balance sheet holds up in the future. So when considering debt, it's definitely worth looking at the earnings trend. Click here for an interactive snapshot.
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 most recent three years, Live Ventures recorded free cash flow worth 50% of its EBIT, which is around normal, given free cash flow excludes interest and tax. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.
Our View
To be frank both Live Ventures's EBIT growth rate and its track record of staying on top of its total liabilities make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow is not so bad. Taking into account all the aforementioned factors, it looks like Live Ventures has too much debt. While some investors love that sort of risky play, it's certainly not our cup of tea. Given the risks around Live Ventures's use of debt, the sensible thing to do is to check if insiders have been unloading the stock.
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.
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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.
