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. Importantly, Shopify Inc. (NYSE:SHOP) does carry debt. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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. 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. Of course, debt can be an important tool in businesses, particularly capital heavy businesses. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

What Is Shopify's Net Debt?

As you can see below, Shopify had US$916.0m of debt, at December 2023, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. However, its balance sheet shows it holds US$5.04b in cash, so it actually has US$4.12b net cash.

How Strong Is Shopify's Balance Sheet?

According to the last reported balance sheet, Shopify had liabilities of US$898.0m due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$1.34b due beyond 12 months. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$5.04b as well as receivables valued at US$964.0m due within 12 months. So it can boast US$3.77b more liquid assets than total liabilities.

This short term liquidity is a sign that Shopify could probably pay off its debt with ease, as its balance sheet is far from stretched. Simply put, the fact that Shopify has more cash than debt is arguably a good indication that it can manage its debt safely.

It was also good to see that despite losing money on the EBIT line last year, Shopify turned things around in the last 12 months, delivering and EBIT of US$260m. 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 Shopify 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.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. Shopify may have net cash on the balance sheet, but it is still interesting to look at how well the business converts its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, because that will influence both its need for, and its capacity to manage debt. Happily for any shareholders, Shopify actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last year. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Summing Up

While it is always sensible to investigate a company's debt, in this case Shopify has US$4.12b in net cash and a decent-looking balance sheet. And it impressed us with free cash flow of US$905m, being 348% of its EBIT. So is Shopify's debt a risk? It doesn't seem so to us. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Shopify .

If you're interested in investing in businesses that can grow profits without the burden of debt, then check out this free list of growing businesses that have net cash on the balance sheet.

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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.