Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT) Has A Somewhat Strained Balance Sheet
Clarivate (NYSE:CLVT) Has A Somewhat Strained Balance Sheet
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. Importantly, Clarivate Plc (NYSE:CLVT) does carry debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?
李璐(Charlie Munger支持的)传奇基金经理曾说:“最大的投资风险不是价格波动,而是资本是否会永久损失。” 所以当您考虑股票风险时,需要考虑债务,因为过多的债务可能会拖垮一家公司。重要的是,Clarivate Plc(NYSE:CLVT)确实负有债务。但股东们应该担心它的债务使用吗?
When Is Debt Dangerous?
债务何时有危险?
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. 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. Having said that, the most common situation is where a company manages its debt reasonably well - and to its own advantage. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.
债务是帮助企业发展的工具,但如果一家企业无法偿还其债权人的债务,则将会处于其垂询之下。最糟糕的情况下,如果一家公司无法偿还其债权人,则可能破产。然而,更频繁(但仍然代价高昂)的情况是,一家公司必须以非常低的价格发行股份,永久性地稀释股东,以支持其资产负债表。但是,常见的情况是,一家公司合理地管理其债务,并将其用于自己的利益。当我们审查债务水平时,首先要考虑现金和债务水平。
What Is Clarivate's Debt?
Clarivate的债务情况是怎样的?
You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that Clarivate had US$4.63b of debt in March 2024, down from US$4.85b, one year before. However, because it has a cash reserve of US$350.4m, its net debt is less, at about US$4.28b.
您可以点击下面的图形查看历史数据,但它显示Clarivate在2024年3月有4630万美元的债务,比一年前的4850万美元下降。 但由于其有350.4万美元的现金储备,其净债务较少,大约为42.8亿美元。
![big](https://usnewsfile.moomoo.com/public/MM-PersistNewsContentImage/7781/20240725/0-0b53e1ab04c70cc7742db241d5a15649-0-93fd9c6bae09f971c27afd2cd7c034de.png/big)
How Strong Is Clarivate's Balance Sheet?
Clarivate的资产负债表有多强?
Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Clarivate had liabilities of US$1.61b due within 12 months and liabilities of US$5.00b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$350.4m and US$822.9m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$5.44b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.
当我们关注最新的资产负债表数据时,我们可以看到Clarivate在12个月内有1.61亿美元的负债,而后面有50亿美元的负债。另一方面,它有350.4万美元的现金和一年内到期的822.9万美元的应收账款。因此,其负债总额超过其现金和短期应收账款的组合544亿美元。
When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's US$4.40b 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.
当您考虑到这种不足超过公司440亿美元的市值时,您可能会倾向于认真审查资产负债表。假设,如果公司被迫以当前股价筹集资本来偿还其负债,则需要大量稀释。
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). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.
为了对公司的债务相对于其收益进行规模适应,我们计算其净债务与利息、税、折旧和摊销前收益(EBITDA)之比及其税前收益(EBIT)与利息支出之比(利息保障倍数)。因此,我们既考虑到不包括折旧和摊销费用在内的收益,又包括折旧和摊销费用的收益相对于债务。
While Clarivate's debt to EBITDA ratio (4.3) suggests that it uses some debt, its interest cover is very weak, at 0.94, suggesting high leverage. In large part that's due to the company's significant depreciation and amortisation charges, which arguably mean its EBITDA is a very generous measure of earnings, and its debt may be more of a burden than it first appears. It seems clear that the cost of borrowing money is negatively impacting returns for shareholders, of late. Fortunately, Clarivate grew its EBIT by 2.1% in the last year, slowly shrinking its debt relative to earnings. 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 Clarivate'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.
虽然Clarivate的债务/息税折旧及摊销前利润(EBITDA)比率(4.3)表明它使用了一些债务,但其利息覆盖率非常弱,为0.94,表明杠杆率很高。在很大程度上,由于公司的重要折旧及摊销费用,这意味着其EBITDA是盈利的非常慷慨的衡量标准,而其债务可能比首次出现的情况更为沉重。显然,借贷成本最近对股东的回报产生了负面影响。幸运的是,Clarivate去年EBIT增长了2.1%,相对于收益而言其债务缩减缓慢。毫无疑问,我们最多从资产负债表中了解债务。但未来的收益,而不是任何其他因素,将决定Clarivate维持健康资产负债表的能力。因此,如果您想了解专业人士的想法,您可能会发现分析师利润预测的这份免费报告很有趣。
But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. Over the last three years, Clarivate actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces.
但我们最终的考虑也很重要,因为一家公司无法用纸质利润支付债务;它需要现金。因此,我们清楚地需要看看EBIT是否导致对应的自由现金流量。在过去的三年中,Clarivate实际上产生的自由现金流量比EBIT还要多。在保持与贷款人良好的关系时,没有比进账的现金更好的了。
Our View
我们的观点
We'd go so far as to say Clarivate's interest cover 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 Clarivate stock a bit risky. Some people like that sort of risk, but we're mindful of the potential pitfalls, so we'd probably prefer it carry less debt. Even though Clarivate lost money on the bottom line, its positive EBIT suggests the business itself has potential. So you might want to check out how earnings have been trending over the last few years.
我们认为Clarivate的利息覆盖率令人失望。但从好的一面看,它将EBIT转换为自由现金流量是一个好的迹象,让我们更加乐观。看到资产负债表并考虑所有这些因素,我们确实相信债务使Clarivate股票稍有风险。有些人喜欢这种风险,但我们对潜在的风险问题难以预料,因此我们可能更希望股票负债更少。尽管Clarivate在底线上亏损,但其正面EBIT表明业务本身具有潜力。因此,您可能需要查看过去几年的收益趋势。
At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.
总的来说,专注于没有净债务的公司往往更好。您可以访问我们的特别列表,其中包含这些公司(所有这些公司都有盈利增长的记录)。这是免费的。
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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.
对本文有任何反馈?对内容有任何疑虑?请直接与我们联系。或者,发送电子邮件至editorial-team@simplywallst.com。
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。