Janison Education Group Limited (ASX:JAN), which has zero-debt on its balance sheet, can maximize capital returns by increasing debt due to its lower cost of capital. However, the trade-off is JAN will have to follow strict debt obligations which will reduce its financial flexibility. Zero-debt can alleviate some risk associated with the company meeting debt obligations, but this doesn’t automatically mean JAN has outstanding financial strength. I will go over a basic overview of the stock’s financial health, which I believe provides a ballpark foresee of their financial health status. Check out our latest analysis for Janison Education Group
Is JAN growing fast enough to value financial flexibility over lower cost of capital?
Debt funding can be cheaper than issuing new equity due to lower interest cost on debt. However, the trade-off is debtholders’ higher claim on company assets in the event of liquidation and stringent obligations around capital management. Either JAN does not have access to cheap capital, or it may believe this trade-off is not worth it. This makes sense only if the company has a competitive edge and is growing fast off its equity capital. A double-digit revenue growth of 35.26% is considered relatively high for a small-cap company like JAN. So, it is acceptable that the company is opting for a zero-debt capital structure currently as it may need to raise debt to fuel expansion in the future.
Can JAN pay its short-term liabilities?
Given zero long-term debt on its balance sheet, Janison Education Group has no solvency issues, which is used to describe the company’s ability to meet its long-term obligations. But another important aspect of financial health is liquidity: the company’s ability to meet short-term obligations, including payments to suppliers and employees. Looking at JAN’s most recent A$0.0M liabilities, it appears that the company has maintained a safe level of current assets to meet its obligations, with the current ratio last standing at 2.86x. For Software companies, this ratio is within a sensible range since there’s sufficient cash cushion without leaving too much capital idle or in low-earning investments.
Next Steps:
JAN is a fast-growing firm, which supports having have zero-debt and financial freedom to continue to ramp up growth. This may mean this is an optimal capital structure for the business, given that it is also meeting its short-term commitment. In the future, its financial position may be different. I admit this is a fairly basic analysis for JAN’s financial health. Other important fundamentals need to be considered alongside. You should continue to research Janison Education Group to get a more holistic view of the stock by looking at: