What Does AZZ's Debt Look Like?

Shares of AZZ AZZ moved higher by 7.04% in the past three months. Before having a look at the importance of debt, let us look at how much debt AZZ has.

AZZ's Debt

Based on AZZ's balance sheet as of April 23, 2021, long-term debt is at $178.42 million and current debt is at $0.00, amounting to $178.42 million in total debt. Adjusted for $14.84 million in cash-equivalents, the company's net debt is at $163.58 million.

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.

Investors look at the debt-ratio to understand how much financial leverage a company has. AZZ has $996.44 million in total assets, therefore making the debt-ratio 0.18. 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 35% might be higher for one industry and normal for another.

Why Investors Look At 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.

However, interest-payment obligations can have an adverse impact on 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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