We Think DLH Holdings (NASDAQ:DLHC) Can Stay On Top Of Its Debt

Simply Wall St

Sat, Sep 28, 2019, 7:58 AM

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. 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. As with many other companies DLH Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:DLHC) makes use of debt. But should shareholders be worried about its use of debt?

When Is Debt A Problem?

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. Ultimately, if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt, shareholders could walk away with nothing. 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.

Check out our latest analysis for DLH Holdings

What Is DLH Holdings's Net Debt?

You can click the graphic below for the historical numbers, but it shows that as of June 2019 DLH Holdings had US$63.6m of debt, an increase on US$13.1m, over one year. However, it also had US$6.01m in cash, and so its net debt is US$57.6m.

NasdaqCM:DLHC Historical Debt, September 28th 2019

How Strong Is DLH Holdings's Balance Sheet?

We can see from the most recent balance sheet that DLH Holdings had liabilities of US$28.2m falling due within a year, and liabilities of US$63.0m due beyond that. Offsetting this, it had US$6.01m in cash and US$24.9m in receivables that were due within 12 months. So its liabilities total US$60.3m more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

When you consider that this deficiency exceeds the company's US$52.4m market capitalization, you might well be inclined to review the balance sheet intently. 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.

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). The advantage of this approach is that we take into account both the absolute quantum of debt (with net debt to EBITDA) and the actual interest expenses associated with that debt (with its interest cover ratio).

DLH Holdings has net debt to EBITDA of 4.3 suggesting it uses a fair bit of leverage to boost returns. On the plus side, its EBIT was 7.0 times its interest expense, and its net debt to EBITDA, was quite high, at 4.3. Importantly, DLH Holdings grew its EBIT by 33% 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 ultimately the future profitability of the business will decide if DLH Holdings 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.

Finally, a business needs free cash flow to pay off debt; accounting profits just don't cut it. So we clearly need to look at whether that EBIT is leading to corresponding free cash flow. Over the last three years, DLH Holdings actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT. That sort of strong cash conversion gets us as excited as the crowd when the beat drops at a Daft Punk concert.

Our View

Both DLH Holdings's ability to to convert EBIT to free cash flow and its EBIT growth rate gave us comfort that it can handle its debt. In contrast, our confidence was undermined by its apparent struggle to handle its total liabilities. Considering this range of data points, we think DLH Holdings is in a good position to manage its debt levels. Having said that, the load is sufficiently heavy that we would recommend any shareholders keep a close eye on it. We'd be motivated to research the stock further if we found out that DLH Holdings insiders have bought shares recently. If you would too, then you're in luck, since today we're sharing our list of reported insider transactions for free.

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.

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.

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