Yahoo Finance Nielsen Holdings (NYSE:NLSN) Use Of Debt Could Be Considered Risky
Howard Marks put it nicely when he said that, rather than worrying about share price volatility, 'The possibility of permanent loss is the risk I worry about... and every practical investor I know worries about. 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. We can see that Nielsen Holdings plc (NYSE:NLSN) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?
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. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. 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 think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.
View our latest analysis for Nielsen Holdings
What Is Nielsen Holdings's Debt?
The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Nielsen Holdings had US$8.38b in debt in September 2019; about the same as the year before. On the flip side, it has US$389.0m in cash leading to net debt of about US$7.99b.
How Healthy Is Nielsen Holdings's Balance Sheet?
We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Nielsen Holdings had liabilities of US$1.78b falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$10.2b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$389.0m and US$1.15b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$10.5b.
Given this deficit is actually higher than the company's market capitalization of US$7.31b, we think shareholders really should watch Nielsen Holdings's debt levels, like a parent watching their child ride a bike for the first time. In the scenario where the company had to clean up its balance sheet quickly, it seems likely shareholders would suffer extensive 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). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.
Nielsen Holdings has a rather high debt to EBITDA ratio of 5.8 which suggests a meaningful debt load. But the good news is that it boasts fairly comforting interest cover of 2.6 times, suggesting it can responsibly service its obligations. Another concern for investors might be that Nielsen Holdings's EBIT fell 15% in the last year. If things keep going like that, handling the debt will about as easy as bundling an angry house cat into its travel box. 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 Nielsen Holdings 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. During the last three years, Nielsen Holdings produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 59% 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
To be frank both Nielsen Holdings's level of total liabilities and its track record of managing its debt, based on its EBITDA, make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least it's pretty decent at converting EBIT to free cash flow; that's encouraging. We're quite clear that we consider Nielsen Holdings to be really rather risky, as a result of its balance sheet health. So we're almost as wary of this stock as a hungry kitten is about falling into its owner's fish pond: once bitten, twice shy, as they say. Given our concerns about Nielsen Holdings's debt levels, it seems only prudent to check if insiders have been ditching the stock.
When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.
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