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Gartner (NYSE:IT) Seems To Use Debt Quite Sensibly

Gartner (NYSE:IT) Seems To Use Debt Quite Sensibly

Gartner(紐約證券交易所代碼:IT)似乎非常明智地使用債務
Simply Wall St ·  05/01 10:29

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 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. As with many other companies Gartner, Inc. (NYSE:IT) makes use of debt. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

有人說,波動性,而不是債務,是投資者思考風險的最佳方式,但禾倫·巴菲特曾說過一句名言:“波動性遠非風險的代名詞。”因此,當你評估公司的風險時,看來聰明的貨幣知道債務(通常涉及破產)是一個非常重要的因素。與許多其他公司一樣,Gartner, Inc.(紐約證券交易所代碼:IT)也使用債務。但是這筆債務是股東關心的問題嗎?

When Is Debt A Problem?

債務何時會成爲問題?

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. If things get really bad, the lenders can take control of the business. However, a more common (but still painful) scenario is that it has to raise new equity capital at a low price, thus permanently diluting shareholders. By replacing dilution, though, debt can be an extremely good tool for businesses that need capital to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we examine debt levels, we first consider both cash and debt levels, together.

債務是幫助企業增長的工具,但是如果企業無法償還貸款人的債務,那麼債務就會任由他們擺佈。如果情況變得非常糟糕,貸款人可以控制業務。但是,更常見(但仍然很痛苦)的情況是,它必須以低廉的價格籌集新的股權資本,從而永久稀釋股東。但是,通過取代稀釋,對於需要資本以高回報率投資增長的企業來說,債務可以成爲一個非常好的工具。當我們研究債務水平時,我們首先要同時考慮現金和債務水平。

How Much Debt Does Gartner Carry?

Gartner 揹負了多少債務?

The chart below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Gartner had US$2.46b in debt in December 2023; about the same as the year before. However, it also had US$1.32b in cash, and so its net debt is US$1.13b.

您可以點擊下圖查看更多詳情,該圖表顯示,2023年12月,Gartner的債務爲24.6億美元;與前一年大致相同。但是,它也有13.2億美元的現金,因此其淨負債爲11.3億美元。

debt-equity-history-analysis
NYSE:IT Debt to Equity History May 1st 2024
紐約證券交易所:IT 債務與股本比率歷史記錄 2024 年 5 月 1 日

How Strong Is Gartner's Balance Sheet?

Gartner 的資產負債表有多強?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Gartner had liabilities of US$3.78b falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$3.38b due beyond that. On the other hand, it had cash of US$1.32b and US$1.63b worth of receivables due within a year. So its liabilities total US$4.20b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

我們可以從最新的資產負債表中看出,Gartner的負債爲37.8億美元,一年後到期的負債爲33.8億美元。另一方面,它有13.2億美元的現金和價值16.3億美元的應收賬款將在一年內到期。因此,其負債總額比其現金和短期應收賬款的總和高出42.0億美元。

Given Gartner has a humongous market capitalization of US$32.1b, it's hard to believe these liabilities pose much threat. But there are sufficient liabilities that we would certainly recommend shareholders continue to monitor the balance sheet, going forward.

鑑於Gartner的龐大市值爲321億美元,很難相信這些負債會構成很大的威脅。但是,有足夠的負債,我們肯定會建議股東今後繼續監督資產負債表。

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.

爲了擴大公司相對於收益的負債規模,我們計算其淨負債除以利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前的收益(EBITDA),將其利息和稅前收益(EBIT)除以利息支出(利息保障)。因此,我們將債務與收益的關係考慮在內,包括和不包括折舊和攤銷費用。

Gartner's net debt is only 0.89 times its EBITDA. And its EBIT covers its interest expense a whopping 13.8 times over. So you could argue it is no more threatened by its debt than an elephant is by a mouse. But the other side of the story is that Gartner saw its EBIT decline by 5.2% over the last year. That sort of decline, if sustained, will obviously make debt harder to handle. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if Gartner 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.

Gartner的淨負債僅爲其息稅折舊攤銷前利潤的0.89倍。其息稅前利潤覆蓋了高達13.8倍的利息支出。因此,你可以爭辯說,它受到債務的威脅並不比大象受到老鼠的威脅更大。但故事的另一面是,Gartner的息稅前利潤比去年下降了5.2%。這種下降如果持續下去,顯然會使債務更難處理。在分析債務水平時,資產負債表是顯而易見的起點。但最終,該業務的未來盈利能力將決定Gartner能否隨着時間的推移加強其資產負債表。因此,如果你想看看專業人士的想法,你可能會發現這份關於分析師利潤預測的免費報告很有趣。

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So the logical step is to look at the proportion of that EBIT that is matched by actual free cash flow. Over the last three years, Gartner recorded free cash flow worth a fulsome 99% of its EBIT, which is stronger than we'd usually expect. That puts it in a very strong position to pay down debt.

但是我們最終的考慮因素也很重要,因爲公司無法用紙面利潤來償還債務;它需要冷硬現金。因此,合乎邏輯的步驟是研究息稅前利潤與實際自由現金流相匹配的比例。在過去的三年中,Gartner記錄的自由現金流相當於其息稅前利潤的99%,比我們通常預期的要強。這使其在償還債務方面處於非常有利的地位。

Our View

我們的觀點

Gartner's interest cover suggests it can handle its debt as easily as Cristiano Ronaldo could score a goal against an under 14's goalkeeper. But truth be told we feel its EBIT growth rate does undermine this impression a bit. When we consider the range of factors above, it looks like Gartner is pretty sensible with its use of debt. That means they are taking on a bit more risk, in the hope of boosting shareholder returns. 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 2 warning signs we've spotted with Gartner .

Gartner的利息保障表明,它可以像克里斯蒂亞諾·羅納爾多在對陣14歲以下的守門員的比賽中進球一樣輕鬆地處理債務。但說實話,我們認爲其息稅前利潤增長率確實稍微削弱了這種印象。當我們考慮上述一系列因素時,看來Gartner使用債務是相當明智的。這意味着他們正在承擔更多的風險,希望提高股東的回報。資產負債表顯然是分析債務時需要關注的領域。但是,並非所有的投資風險都存在於資產負債表中,遠非如此。爲此,你應該注意我們在Gartner上發現的兩個警告信號。

When all is said and done, sometimes its easier to focus on companies that don't even need debt. Readers can access a list of growth stocks with zero net debt 100% free, right now.

當一切都說完之後,有時更容易將注意力集中在甚至不需要債務的公司上。讀者現在可以100%免費訪問淨負債爲零的成長型股票清單。

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Simply Wall St的這篇文章本質上是籠統的。我們僅使用公正的方法根據歷史數據和分析師的預測提供評論,我們的文章無意作爲財務建議。它不構成買入或賣出任何股票的建議,也沒有考慮到您的目標或財務狀況。我們的目標是爲您提供由基本數據驅動的長期重點分析。請注意,我們的分析可能不考慮最新的價格敏感型公司公告或定性材料。簡而言之,華爾街沒有持有任何上述股票的頭寸。

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