Some say volatility, rather than debt, is the best way to think about risk as an investor, but Warren Buffett famously said that '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. As with many other companies Nexteer Automotive Group Limited (HKG:1316) makes use of debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. 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. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

What Is Nexteer Automotive Group's Debt?

As you can see below, Nexteer Automotive Group had US$49.1m of debt, at December 2023, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. But it also has US$311.7m in cash to offset that, meaning it has US$262.6m net cash.

A Look At Nexteer Automotive Group's Liabilities

According to the last reported balance sheet, Nexteer Automotive Group had liabilities of US$1.09b due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$304.7m due beyond 12 months. Offsetting this, it had US$311.7m in cash and US$936.8m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$145.2m.

Given Nexteer Automotive Group has a market capitalization of US$1.33b, it's hard to believe these liabilities pose much threat. Having said that, it's clear that we should continue to monitor its balance sheet, lest it change for the worse. While it does have liabilities worth noting, Nexteer Automotive Group also has more cash than debt, so we're pretty confident it can manage its debt safely.

The modesty of its debt load may become crucial for Nexteer Automotive Group if management cannot prevent a repeat of the 22% cut to EBIT over the last year. Falling earnings (if the trend continues) could eventually make even modest debt quite risky. 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 Nexteer Automotive Group 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.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. While Nexteer Automotive Group has net cash on its balance sheet, it's still worth taking a look at its ability to convert earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to free cash flow, to help us understand how quickly it is building (or eroding) that cash balance. In the last three years, Nexteer Automotive Group created free cash flow amounting to 9.9% of its EBIT, an uninspiring performance. For us, cash conversion that low sparks a little paranoia about is ability to extinguish debt.

Summing Up

Although Nexteer Automotive Group's balance sheet isn't particularly strong, due to the total liabilities, it is clearly positive to see that it has net cash of US$262.6m. So although we see some areas for improvement, we're not too worried about Nexteer Automotive Group's balance sheet. The balance sheet is clearly the area to focus on when you are analysing debt. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. To that end, you should be aware of the 1 warning sign we've spotted with Nexteer Automotive Group .

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.

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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.