David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the permanent loss of capital.' It's only natural to consider a company's balance sheet when you examine how risky it is, since debt is often involved when a business collapses. We can see that AbbVie Inc. (NYSE:ABBV) does use debt in its business. But is this debt a concern to shareholders?

What Risk Does Debt Bring?

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. Part and parcel of capitalism is the process of 'creative destruction' where failed businesses are mercilessly liquidated by their bankers. While that is not too common, we often do see indebted companies permanently diluting shareholders because lenders force them to raise capital at a distressed price. Of course, plenty of companies use debt to fund growth, without any negative consequences. The first step when considering a company's debt levels is to consider its cash and debt together.

Check out our latest analysis for AbbVie

How Much Debt Does AbbVie Carry?

As you can see below, at the end of March 2024, AbbVie had US$74.4b of debt, up from US$62.5b a year ago. Click the image for more detail. On the flip side, it has US$18.1b in cash leading to net debt of about US$56.3b.

How Healthy Is AbbVie's Balance Sheet?

Zooming in on the latest balance sheet data, we can see that AbbVie had liabilities of US$41.5b due within 12 months and liabilities of US$99.3b due beyond that. Offsetting these obligations, it had cash of US$18.1b as well as receivables valued at US$11.9b due within 12 months. So its liabilities total US$110.8b more than the combination of its cash and short-term receivables.

AbbVie has a very large market capitalization of US$293.9b, so it could very likely raise cash to ameliorate its balance sheet, if the need arose. However, it is still worthwhile taking a close look at its ability to pay off debt.

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).

We'd say that AbbVie's moderate net debt to EBITDA ratio ( being 2.2), indicates prudence when it comes to debt. And its strong interest cover of 10.4 times, makes us even more comfortable. The bad news is that AbbVie saw its EBIT decline by 18% over the last year. If that sort of decline is not arrested, then the managing its debt will be harder than selling broccoli flavoured ice-cream for a premium. 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 AbbVie 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.

But our final consideration is also important, because a company cannot pay debt with paper profits; it needs cold hard cash. So it's worth checking how much of that EBIT is backed by free cash flow. Happily for any shareholders, AbbVie actually produced more free cash flow than EBIT over the last three years. 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 AbbVie's ability to to convert EBIT to free cash flow and its interest cover gave us comfort that it can handle its debt. But truth be told its EBIT growth rate had us nibbling our nails. When we consider all the factors mentioned above, we do feel a bit cautious about AbbVie's use of debt. While debt does have its upside in higher potential returns, we think shareholders should definitely consider how debt levels might make the stock more risky. When analysing debt levels, the balance sheet is the obvious place to start. But ultimately, every company can contain risks that exist outside of the balance sheet. Case in point: We've spotted 4 warning signs for AbbVie you should be aware of.

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.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.