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.’ When we think about how risky a company is, we always like to look at its use of debt, since debt overload can lead to ruin. We note that TriMas Corporation (NASDAQ:TRS) does have debt on its balance sheet. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?
When Is Debt Dangerous?
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. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of ‘creative destruction’ where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. 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. 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 TriMas’s Debt?
The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that at June 2021 TriMas had debt of US$394.0m, up from US$295.3m in one year. However, it also had US$117.4m in cash, and so its net debt is US$276.5m.
A Look At TriMas’ Liabilities
According to the last reported balance sheet, TriMas had liabilities of US$140.1m due within 12 months, and liabilities of US$507.3m due beyond 12 months. On the other hand, it had cash of US$117.4m and US$135.2m worth of receivables due within a year. So it has liabilities totalling US$394.7m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.
TriMas has a market capitalization of US$1.32b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.
We use two main ratios to inform us about debt levels relative to earnings. The first is net debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), while the second is how many times its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) covers its interest expense (or its interest cover, for short). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.
TriMas’s net debt is sitting at a very reasonable 1.8 times its EBITDA, while its EBIT covered its interest expense just 4.2 times last year. While these numbers do not alarm us, it’s worth noting that the cost of the company’s debt is having a real impact. Importantly, TriMas grew its EBIT by 66% over the last twelve months, and that growth will make it easier to handle its debt. 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 TriMas’s ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward.
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, TriMas recorded free cash flow worth a fulsome 87% of its EBIT, which is stronger than we’d usually expect. That positions it well to pay down debt if desirable to do so.
Our View
TriMas’s conversion of EBIT to free cash flow 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 interest cover does undermine this impression a bit. When we consider the range of factors above, it looks like TriMas is pretty sensible with its use of debt. While that brings some risk, it can also enhance returns for shareholders. There’s no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet.