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 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. We note that Sinochem International Corporation (SHSE:600500) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

View our latest analysis for Sinochem International

What Is Sinochem International's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Sinochem International had CN¥19.5b of debt in September 2023, down from CN¥29.2b, one year before. On the flip side, it has CN¥2.04b in cash leading to net debt of about CN¥17.5b.

How Healthy Is Sinochem International's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Sinochem International had liabilities of CN¥15.6b due within 12 months and liabilities of CN¥16.5b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had CN¥2.04b in cash and CN¥7.34b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling CN¥22.8b more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's CN¥16.0b market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. Hypothetically, extremely heavy dilution would be required if the company were forced to pay down its liabilities by raising capital at the current share price. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Sinochem International's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Over 12 months, Sinochem International made a loss at the EBIT level, and saw its revenue drop to CN¥65b, which is a fall of 27%. That makes us nervous, to say the least.

Caveat Emptor

While Sinochem International's falling revenue is about as heartwarming as a wet blanket, arguably its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss is even less appealing. Indeed, it lost CN¥964m at the EBIT level. Considering that alongside the liabilities mentioned above make us nervous about the company. It would need to improve its operations quickly for us to be interested in it. Not least because it burned through CN¥3.0b in negative free cash flow over the last year. So suffice it to say we consider the stock to be risky. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. Be aware that Sinochem International is showing 2 warning signs 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. 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.