Is Noble (NYSE:NE) Using Too Much Debt?
Is Noble (NYSE:NE) Using Too Much Debt?
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. As with many other companies Noble Corporation plc (NYSE:NE) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
传奇基金经理、查理·芒格背书的李璐曾说过,“最大的投资风险不是价格的波动,而是你是否会遭受到资本的永久损失。”由此可以看出,在考虑任何给定股票的风险时,你需要考虑债务,因为过多的债务可以使公司破产。与许多其他公司一样,Noble Corporation plc (NYSE:NE)也利用债务。但是,这笔债务是否让股东感到担忧呢?
Why Does Debt Bring Risk?
为什么债务会带来风险?
Debt is a tool to help businesses grow, but if a business is incapable of paying off its lenders, then it exists at their mercy. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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. 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 examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.
债务是帮助企业增长的工具,但如果企业无法偿还其借款人,那么它就处于它们的掌控之下。如果情况变得非常糟糕,放贷人可以控制业务。然而,更常见(但仍然昂贵)的情况是公司必须以低廉的股价稀释股东,仅仅是为了控制债务。当然,债务的优势在于它通常代表便宜的资本,特别是当它代替具有高回报率再投资能力的公司稀释股权时。当我们考虑债务水平时,我们首先考虑现金和债务水平。
What Is Noble's Net Debt?
什么是Noble的净债务?
As you can see below, at the end of March 2024, Noble had US$586.6m of debt, up from US$520.7m a year ago. Click the image for more detail. However, it does have US$212.5m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about US$374.2m.
如下图所示,在2024年3月底,Noble的债务为58660万美元,比一年前的52070万美元增加了6500万美元。点击图片查看更多细节。然而,它的现金为21250万美元,抵消了这一点,导致净债务约为37420万美元。
![big](https://usnewsfile.moomoo.com/public/MM-PersistNewsContentImage/7781/20240716/0-e849fcac2014b6b0d37edef793b413ad-0-aa7a3849f10346c1a6f330f9c16a89a1.png/big)
A Look At Noble's Liabilities
看一下Noble的负债情况
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Noble had liabilities of US$603.4m due within 12 months and liabilities of US$919.8m due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$212.5m and US$668.1m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$642.6m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.
进一步观察最新的资产负债表数据,我们可以看到Noble有60340万美元的负债到期在12个月内,其余91980万美元的负债将在12个月后到期。另一方面,它的现金为21250万美元,有66810万美元的应收账款将在一年内到期。因此,它的负债总额比其现金和短期应收款的组合多64260万美元。
Since publicly traded Noble shares are worth a total of US$6.54b, it seems unlikely that this level of liabilities would be a major threat. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward.
由于公开交易的Noble的股份总价值达到65.4亿美元,因此这种程度的负债似乎不会构成重大威胁。但是,负债足够大,我们肯定会建议股东继续监控资产负债表的变化。
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). 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).
为了评估公司的债务与收益的关系,我们计算净债务除以息税折旧及摊销前利润(EBITDA),以及利息费用除以息税前利润(EBIT)(其利息覆盖率)。这种方法的优点是我们同时考虑到债务的绝对量(以净债务/EBITDA计算),以及与债务相关的实际利息费用(以利息覆盖率计算)。
Noble has net debt of just 0.44 times EBITDA, indicating that it is certainly not a reckless borrower. And this view is supported by the solid interest coverage, with EBIT coming in at 9.9 times the interest expense over the last year. On top of that, Noble grew its EBIT by 71% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Noble can strengthen its balance sheet over time. So if you're focused on the future you can check out this free report showing analyst profit forecasts.
Noble的净债务只有EBITDA的0.44倍,这表明它绝对不是一个不负责任的借款人。并且这个观点得到了坚实的利息覆盖的支持,上一年EBIT是利息支出的9.9倍。此外,Noble在过去的十二个月中将EBIT增长了71%,这种增长将使它更容易处理其债务。毫无疑问,我们从资产负债表中了解到了大部分有关债务的信息。但是,最终业务的未来盈利能力将决定Noble是否能随着时间的推移加强其资产负债表。因此,如果你关注于未来,可以查看这个免费的报告,其中显示了分析师的利润预测。
Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So we always check how much of that EBIT is translated into free cash flow. In the last two years, Noble's free cash flow amounted to 34% of its EBIT, less than we'd expect. That weak cash conversion makes it more difficult to handle indebtedness.
最后,公司只能用实实在在的现金而不是会计利润来偿还债务。因此,我们始终检查EBIT中有多少被转化为自由现金流。在过去两年中,Noble的自由现金流总额仅为EBIT的34%,低于我们的预期。这种弱的现金转换使处理债务变得更加困难。
Our View
我们的观点
The good news is that Noble's demonstrated ability to grow its EBIT delights us like a fluffy puppy does a toddler. But truth be told we feel its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow does undermine this impression a bit. Zooming out, Noble seems to use debt quite reasonably; and that gets the nod from us. After all, sensible leverage can boost returns on equity. 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. These risks can be hard to spot. Every company has them, and we've spotted 2 warning signs for Noble you should know about.
好消息是,Noble展示了让我们高兴得像婴儿一样的能力来增加EBIT。但是说实话,我们认为它将EBIT转化为自由现金流的能力会削弱这种印象。总之,Noble似乎以相当合理的方法使用债务,并且这一点得到了我们的认可。毕竟,合理的杠杆比率可以提高资产回报率。在分析债务水平时,资产负债表是显而易见的起点。但是,最终,每个公司都可能包含除资产负债表之外的风险。这些风险可能很难发现。每个公司都拥有这些风险,我们已经发现了Noble的两个警告信号,你需要知道。
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.
当然,如果您是那种喜欢购买没有负债负担的股票的投资者,则今天就可以发现我们的独家净现金增长股清单。
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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.
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这篇文章是Simply Wall St的一般性文章。我们根据历史数据和分析师预测提供评论,只使用公正的方法论,我们的文章并不意味着提供任何金融建议。文章不构成买卖任何股票的建议,也不考虑您的目标或您的财务状况。我们的目标是带给您基本数据驱动的长期关注分析。请注意,我们的分析可能不考虑最新的价格敏感公司公告或定性材料。Simply Wall St没有任何股票头寸。
Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com
对本文有反馈?对内容感到担忧?请直接与我们联系。或者,发送电子邮件至editorial-team@simplywallst.com。