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Is Valhi (NYSE:VHI) Using Too Much Debt?

Is Valhi (NYSE:VHI) Using Too Much Debt?

Valhi(紐約證券交易所代碼:VHI)是否使用過多的債務?
Simply Wall St ·  05/21 18:58

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.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. We note that Valhi, Inc. (NYSE:VHI) does have debt on its balance sheet. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

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。”當你檢查公司的資產負債表的風險時,考慮它的資產負債表是很自然的,因爲企業倒閉時通常會涉及債務。我們注意到,Valhi, Inc.(紐約證券交易所代碼:VHI)的資產負債表上確實有債務。但是,股東是否應該擔心其債務的使用?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

債務會帶來什麼風險?

Generally speaking, debt only becomes a real problem when a company can't easily pay it off, either by raising capital or with its own cash flow. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. 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, 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.

一般而言,只有當公司無法通過籌集資金或利用自己的現金流輕鬆還清債務時,債務才會成爲真正的問題。資本主義的重要部分是 “創造性破壞” 的過程,在這個過程中,倒閉的企業被銀行家無情地清算。但是,更常見(但仍然昂貴)的情況是,公司必須以低廉的股價稀釋股東,這樣才能控制債務。當然,許多公司使用債務爲增長提供資金,而不會產生任何負面後果。當我們考慮公司對債務的使用時,我們首先要同時考慮現金和債務。

What Is Valhi's Debt?

什麼是 Valhi 的債務?

The image below, which you can click on for greater detail, shows that Valhi had debt of US$511.9m at the end of March 2024, a reduction from US$561.5m over a year. However, it also had US$372.7m in cash, and so its net debt is US$139.2m.

您可以點擊下圖查看更多詳情,該圖片顯示,截至2024年3月底,Valhi的債務爲5.119億美元,較上一年的5.615億美元有所減少。但是,它也有3.727億美元的現金,因此其淨負債爲1.392億美元。

debt-equity-history-analysis
NYSE:VHI Debt to Equity History May 21st 2024
紐約證券交易所:VHI 債務與股本比率歷史記錄 2024 年 5 月 21 日

How Strong Is Valhi's Balance Sheet?

Valhi 的資產負債表有多強?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that Valhi had liabilities of US$385.2m due within 12 months and liabilities of US$923.8m due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$372.7m as well as receivables valued at US$377.8m due within 12 months. So it has liabilities totalling US$558.5m more than its cash and near-term receivables, combined.

放大最新的資產負債表數據,我們可以看到,Valhi在12個月內到期的負債爲3.852億美元,之後到期的負債爲9.238億美元。除這些債務外,它有3.727億美元的現金以及價值3.778億美元的應收賬款將在12個月內到期。因此,它的負債總額比其現金和短期應收賬款的總和多出5.585億美元。

Given this deficit is actually higher than the company's market capitalization of US$531.5m, we think shareholders really should watch Valhi's debt levels, like a parent watching their child ride a bike for the first time. 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.

鑑於這一赤字實際上高於公司5.315億美元的市值,我們認爲股東們確實應該關注Valhi的債務水平,就像父母第一次看着孩子騎自行車一樣。假設,如果公司被迫通過按當前股價籌集資金來償還負債,則需要進行極其嚴重的稀釋。

We measure a company's debt load relative to its earnings power by looking at its net debt divided by its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and by calculating how easily its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) cover its interest expense (interest cover). This way, we consider both the absolute quantum of the debt, as well as the interest rates paid on it.

我們通過以下方法來衡量公司的債務負擔與其盈利能力:將其淨負債除以利息、稅項、折舊和攤銷前的收益(EBITDA),並計算其利息和稅前收益(EBIT)支付利息支出(利息保障)的難易程度。這樣,我們既考慮債務的絕對數量,也考慮爲債務支付的利率。

Even though Valhi's debt is only 2.2, its interest cover is really very low at 1.1. The main reason for this is that it has such high depreciation and amortisation. These charges may be non-cash, so they could be excluded when it comes to paying down debt. But the accounting charges are there for a reason -- some assets are seen to be losing value. Either way there's no doubt the stock is using meaningful leverage. Shareholders should be aware that Valhi's EBIT was down 85% last year. If that decline continues then paying off debt will be harder than selling foie gras at a vegan convention. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But you can't view debt in total isolation; since Valhi will need earnings to service that debt. So if you're keen to discover more about its earnings, it might be worth checking out this graph of its long term earnings trend.

儘管Valhi的債務只有2.2,但其利息覆蓋率確實很低,爲1.1。其主要原因是它的折舊和攤銷率如此之高。這些費用可能是非現金的,因此在償還債務時可以將其排除在外。但是會計費用是有原因的——一些資產被認爲正在貶值。無論哪種方式,毫無疑問,該股正在使用有意義的槓桿作用。股東們應該意識到,去年Valhi的息稅前利潤下降了85%。如果這種下降持續下去,那麼償還債務將比在素食大會上出售鵝肝更難。毫無疑問,我們從資產負債表中學到的關於債務的知識最多。但是你不能完全孤立地看待債務;因爲Valhi需要收入來償還債務。因此,如果你想進一步了解其收益,可能值得看看這張長期收益趨勢圖。

Finally, a company can only pay off debt with cold hard cash, not accounting profits. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. During the last three years, Valhi produced sturdy free cash flow equating to 53% of its EBIT, about what we'd expect. This cold hard cash means it can reduce its debt when it wants to.

最後,公司只能用冷硬現金償還債務,不能用會計利潤償還債務。因此,我們顯然需要研究息稅前利潤是否會帶來相應的自由現金流。在過去的三年中,Valhi產生了穩健的自由現金流,相當於其息稅前利潤的53%,與我們的預期差不多。這種冷硬現金意味着它可以在需要時減少債務。

Our View

我們的觀點

To be frank both Valhi's interest cover and its track record of (not) growing its EBIT make us rather uncomfortable with its debt levels. But at least it's pretty decent at converting EBIT to free cash flow; that's encouraging. We're quite clear that we consider Valhi to be really rather risky, as a result of its balance sheet health. So we're almost as wary of this stock as a hungry kitten is about falling into its owner's fish pond: once bitten, twice shy, as they say. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. For example Valhi has 4 warning signs (and 1 which is significant) we think you should know about.

坦率地說,Valhi的利息保障和其(不)增長息稅前利潤的往績都使我們對其債務水平感到相當不舒服。但至少在將息稅前利潤轉換爲自由現金流方面相當不錯;這令人鼓舞。我們很清楚,由於其資產負債表狀況良好,我們認爲Valhi的風險確實相當大。因此,我們對這隻魚的警惕幾乎就像一隻飢餓的小貓要掉進主人的魚池一樣警惕:正如他們所說,一旦被咬傷,兩次害羞。毫無疑問,我們從資產負債表中學到的關於債務的知識最多。但歸根結底,每家公司都可以控制資產負債表之外存在的風險。例如,Valhi 有 4 個警告信號(以及 1 個很重要),我們認爲你應該知道。

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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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.

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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。

譯文內容由第三人軟體翻譯。


以上內容僅用作資訊或教育之目的,不構成與富途相關的任何投資建議。富途竭力但無法保證上述全部內容的真實性、準確性和原創性。
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