Warren Buffett famously said, 'Volatility is far from synonymous with risk.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. We note that Green Plains Inc. (NASDAQ:GPRE) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

Why Does Debt Bring Risk?

Debt and other liabilities become risky for a business when it cannot easily fulfill those obligations, either with free cash flow or by raising capital at an attractive price. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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 think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for Green Plains

What Is Green Plains's Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Green Plains had US$653.6m of debt in September 2023, down from US$703.2m, one year before. However, because it has a cash reserve of US$326.7m, its net debt is less, at about US$326.9m.

How Healthy Is Green Plains' Balance Sheet?

The latest balance sheet data shows that Green Plains had liabilities of US$402.5m due within a year, and liabilities of US$574.2m falling due after that. Offsetting this, it had US$326.7m in cash and US$143.9m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling US$506.1m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

Green Plains has a market capitalization of US$1.46b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. But it's clear that we should definitely closely examine whether it can manage its debt without dilution. 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 Green Plains 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.

In the last year Green Plains's revenue was pretty flat, and it made a negative EBIT. While that's not too bad, we'd prefer see growth.

Caveat Emptor

Importantly, Green Plains had an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss over the last year. Indeed, it lost US$107m at the EBIT level. When we look at that and recall the liabilities on its balance sheet, relative to cash, it seems unwise to us for the company to have any debt. So we think its balance sheet is a little strained, though not beyond repair. However, it doesn't help that it burned through US$58m of cash over the last year. So to be blunt we think it is risky. For riskier companies like Green Plains I always like to keep an eye on whether insiders are buying or selling. So click here if you want to find out for yourself.

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.