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 can see that Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS) does use debt in its business. But the more important question is: how much risk is that debt creating?

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. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. 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, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. When we think about a company's use of debt, we first look at cash and debt together.

What Is Exact Sciences's Net Debt?

As you can see below, Exact Sciences had US$2.31b of debt, at December 2023, which is about the same as the year before. You can click the chart for greater detail. On the flip side, it has US$777.6m in cash leading to net debt of about US$1.54b.

How Strong Is Exact Sciences' Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Exact Sciences had liabilities of US$514.7m falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$2.81b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$777.6m and US$203.6m worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by US$2.34b.

Exact Sciences has a very large market capitalization of US$11.5b, 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 Exact Sciences 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 Exact Sciences wasn't profitable at an EBIT level, but managed to grow its revenue by 20%, to US$2.5b. We usually like to see faster growth from unprofitable companies, but each to their own.

Caveat Emptor

Over the last twelve months Exact Sciences produced an earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) loss. To be specific the EBIT loss came in at US$214m. 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. For example, we would not want to see a repeat of last year's loss of US$204m. So we do think this stock is quite risky. When we look at a riskier company, we like to check how their profits (or losses) are trending over time. Today, we're providing readers this interactive graph showing how Exact Sciences's profit, revenue, and operating cashflow have changed over the last few years.

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.