What Does Baidu's Debt Look Like?

Over the past three months, shares of Baidu BIDU rose by 56.48%. Before having a look at the importance of debt, let us look at how much debt Baidu has.

Baidu's Debt

Based on Baidu’s financial statement as of March 15, 2018, long-term debt is at $5.50 billion and current debt is at $1.19 billion, amounting to $6.70 billion in total debt. Adjusted for $1.70 billion in cash-equivalents, the company's net debt is at $4.99 billion.

Let's define some of the terms we used in the paragraph above. Current debt is the portion of a company's debt which is due within 1 year, while long-term debt is the portion due in more than 1 year. Cash equivalents include cash and any liquid securities with maturity periods of 90 days or less. Total debt equals current debt plus long-term debt minus cash equivalents.

Shareholders look at the debt-ratio to understand how much financial leverage a company has. Baidu has $38.69 billion in total assets, therefore making the debt-ratio 0.17. Generally speaking, a debt-ratio more than one means that a large portion of debt is funded by assets. As the debt-ratio increases, so the does the risk of defaulting on loans, if interest rates were to increase. Different industries have different thresholds of tolerance for debt-ratios. A debt ratio of 25% might be higher for one industry and average for another.

Importance Of Debt

Debt is an important factor in the capital structure of a company, and can help it attain growth. Debt usually has a relatively lower financing cost than equity, which makes it an attractive option for executives.

Interest-payment obligations can impact the cash-flow of the company. Equity owners can keep excess profit, generated from the debt capital, when companies use the debt capital for its business operations.

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