These 4 Measures Indicate That Koninklijke Philips (AMS:PHIA) Is Using Debt Extensively (2024)

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 Koninklijke Philips N.V. (AMS:PHIA) does use debt in its business. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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. In the worst case scenario, a company can go bankrupt if it cannot pay its creditors. However, a more frequent (but still costly) occurrence is where a company must issue shares at bargain-basem*nt prices, permanently diluting shareholders, just to shore up its balance sheet. 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. The first thing to do when considering how much debt a business uses is to look at its cash and debt together.

See our latest analysis for Koninklijke Philips

What Is Koninklijke Philips's Net Debt?

As you can see below, Koninklijke Philips had €7.69b of debt at December 2023, down from €8.20b a year prior. However, because it has a cash reserve of €1.87b, its net debt is less, at about €5.82b.

A Look At Koninklijke Philips' Liabilities

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that Koninklijke Philips had liabilities of €8.29b falling due within a year, and liabilities of €9.06b due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had €1.87b in cash and €4.26b in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities outweigh the sum of its cash and (near-term) receivables by €11.2b.

While this might seem like a lot, it is not so bad since Koninklijke Philips has a huge market capitalization of €22.9b, and so it could probably strengthen its balance sheet by raising capital if it needed to. But we definitely want to keep our eyes open to indications that its debt is bringing too much risk.

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). Thus we consider debt relative to earnings both with and without depreciation and amortization expenses.

Koninklijke Philips shareholders face the double whammy of a high net debt to EBITDA ratio (6.6), and fairly weak interest coverage, since EBIT is just 0.78 times the interest expense. The debt burden here is substantial. However, the silver lining was that Koninklijke Philips achieved a positive EBIT of €177m in the last twelve months, an improvement on the prior year's loss. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But it is future earnings, more than anything, that will determine Koninklijke Philips's ability to maintain a healthy balance sheet going forward. So if you want to see what the professionals think, you might find this free report on analyst profit forecasts to be interesting.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So it's worth checking how much of the earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) is backed by free cash flow. Happily for any shareholders, Koninklijke Philips actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last year. There's nothing better than incoming cash when it comes to staying in your lenders' good graces.

Our View

Koninklijke Philips's interest cover and net debt to EBITDA definitely weigh on it, in our esteem. But its conversion of EBIT to free cash flow tells a very different story, and suggests some resilience. It's also worth noting that Koninklijke Philips is in the Medical Equipment industry, which is often considered to be quite defensive. Looking at all the angles mentioned above, it does seem to us that Koninklijke Philips is a somewhat risky investment as a result of its debt. Not all risk is bad, as it can boost share price returns if it pays off, but this debt risk is worth keeping in mind. There's no doubt that we learn most about debt from the balance sheet. However, not all investment risk resides within the balance sheet - far from it. We've identified 2 warning signs with Koninklijke Philips , and understanding them should be part of your investment process.

At the end of the day, it's often better to focus on companies that are free from net debt. You can access our special list of such companies (all with a track record of profit growth). It's free.

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