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Is Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Using Too Much Debt?

Is Scholastic (NASDAQ:SCHL) Using Too Much Debt?

Scholastic(納斯達克:SCHL)是否過度使用債務?
Simply Wall St ·  11:54

Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' 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 Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) does have debt on its balance sheet. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

禾倫·巴菲特曾說過一句名言:「波動性遠非風險的代名詞。」因此,很明顯,當你考慮任何給定股票的風險時,你需要考慮債務,因爲過多的債務會使公司陷入困境。我們注意到,Scholastic Corporation(納斯達克股票代碼:SCHL)的資產負債表上確實有債務。但更重要的問題是:這筆債務會帶來多大的風險?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

爲什麼債務會帶來風險?

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 usual (but still expensive) situation is where a company must dilute shareholders at a cheap share price simply to get debt under control. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

債務可以幫助企業,直到企業難以償還債務,無論是新資本還是自由現金流。如果情況變得非常糟糕,貸款人可以控制業務。但是,更常見(但仍然昂貴)的情況是,公司爲了控制債務,必須以低廉的股價稀釋股東。話雖如此,最常見的情況是公司合理地管理債務,而且對自己有利。在考慮企業使用多少債務時,要做的第一件事是同時考慮其現金和債務。

What Is Scholastic's Debt?

什麼是 Scholastic 的債務?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at November 2024 Scholastic had debt of US$256.2m, up from US$6.30m in one year. However, it does have US$139.6m in cash offsetting this, leading to net debt of about US$116.6m.

您可以點擊下圖查看更多詳情,該圖片顯示,截至2024年11月,Scholastic的債務爲2.562億美元,高於一年內的630萬美元。但是,它確實有1.396億美元的現金抵消了這一點,淨負債約爲1.166億美元。

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NasdaqGS:SCHL Debt to Equity History December 23rd 2024
NASDAQGS: SCHL 債券與股本的比率歷史記錄 2024 年 12 月 23 日

How Strong Is Scholastic's Balance Sheet?

Scholastic 的資產負債表有多強?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Scholastic had liabilities of US$655.8m due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$395.0m due beyond 12 months. On the other hand, it had cash of US$139.6m and US$319.0m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$592.2m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

根據上次報告的資產負債表,Scholastic的負債爲6.558億美元,12個月後到期的負債爲3.95億美元。另一方面,它有1.396億美元的現金和價值3.19億美元的應收賬款在一年內到期。因此,其負債總額比其現金和短期應收賬款的總和高出5.922億美元。

Given this deficit is actually higher than the company's market capitalization of US$556.7m, we think shareholders really should watch Scholastic's debt levels, like a parent watching their child ride a bike for the first time. 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.

鑑於這一赤字實際上高於公司5.567億美元的市值,我們認爲股東確實應該關注Scholastic的債務水平,就像父母第一次看着孩子騎自行車一樣。假設,如果公司被迫通過按當前股價籌集資金來償還負債,則需要進行極其嚴重的稀釋。

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).

爲了擴大公司相對於收益的負債規模,我們計算其淨負債除以其扣除利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前的收益(EBITDA)和其利息和稅前收益(EBIT)除以其利息支出(利息保障)。這種方法的優勢在於,我們既考慮了債務的絕對數量(淨負債佔息稅折舊攤銷前利潤),也考慮了與該債務相關的實際利息支出(及其利息覆蓋率)。

Scholastic has net debt worth 1.9 times EBITDA, which isn't too much, but its interest cover looks a bit on the low side, with EBIT at only 3.4 times the interest expense. It seems that the business incurs large depreciation and amortisation charges, so maybe its debt load is heavier than it would first appear, since EBITDA is arguably a generous measure of earnings. Shareholders should be aware that Scholastic's EBIT was down 62% last year. If that earnings trend continues then paying off its debt will be about as easy as herding cats on to a roller coaster. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Scholastic'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.

Scholastic的淨負債價值是息稅折舊攤銷前利潤的1.9倍,這並不算多,但其利息保障範圍看起來有點偏低,息稅前利潤僅爲利息支出的3.4倍。看來該企業會產生巨額折舊和攤銷費用,因此其債務負擔可能比最初出現的要重,因爲息稅折舊攤銷前利潤可以說是衡量收益的豐厚指標。股東們應該意識到,Scholastic的息稅前利潤去年下降了62%。如果這種盈利趨勢繼續下去,那麼償還債務就像放貓坐過山車一樣容易。在分析債務水平時,資產負債表是顯而易見的起點。但是,未來的收益比什麼都重要,將決定Scholastic未來維持健康資產負債表的能力。因此,如果你想看看專業人士的想法,你可能會發現這份關於分析師利潤預測的免費報告很有趣。

Finally, while the tax-man may adore accounting profits, lenders only accept cold hard cash. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. Over the last three years, Scholastic actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

最後,儘管稅務人員可能喜歡會計利潤,但貸款人只接受冷硬現金。因此,合乎邏輯的步驟是研究該息稅前利潤與實際自由現金流相匹配的比例。在過去的三年中,Scholastic產生的自由現金流實際上超過了息稅前利潤。當Daft Punk音樂會的節拍下降時,這種強勁的現金轉換讓我們和觀衆一樣興奮。

Our View

我們的觀點

We'd go so far as to say Scholastic's EBIT growth rate was disappointing. But on the bright side, its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow is a good sign, and makes us more optimistic. Looking at the balance sheet and taking into account all these factors, we do believe that debt is making Scholastic stock a bit risky. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but we'd generally feel more comfortable with less leverage. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. We've identified 1 warning sign with Scholastic , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

我們甚至可以說Scholastic的息稅前利潤增長率令人失望。但好的一面是,它將息稅前利潤轉換爲自由現金流是一個好兆頭,也使我們更加樂觀。從資產負債表來看,考慮到所有這些因素,我們確實認爲債務使Scholastic的股票有點風險。這不一定是一件壞事,但我們通常會因爲降低槓桿率而感到更自在。在分析債務水平時,資產負債表是顯而易見的起點。但是,並非所有的投資風險都存在於資產負債表中,遠非如此。我們已經向Scholastic確定了一個警告信號,了解它們應該是您投資過程的一部分。

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.

畢竟,如果你對一家資產負債表堅如磐石的快速成長型公司更感興趣,那麼請立即查看我們的淨現金增長股票清單。

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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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Simply Wall ST 的這篇文章本質上是籠統的。我們僅使用公正的方法提供基於歷史數據和分析師預測的評論,我們的文章並非旨在提供財務建議。它不構成買入或賣出任何股票的建議,也沒有考慮到您的目標或財務狀況。我們的目標是爲您提供由基本數據驅動的長期重點分析。請注意,我們的分析可能不會考慮最新的價格敏感型公司公告或定性材料。華爾街只是沒有持有上述任何股票的頭寸。

声明:本內容僅用作提供資訊及教育之目的,不構成對任何特定投資或投資策略的推薦或認可。 更多信息
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