Regional Container Lines Corporate Bonds and Leverage Analysis

RCL-R Stock  THB 29.25  0.50  1.74%   
Regional Container Lines holds a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. With a high degree of financial leverage come high-interest payments, which usually reduce Regional Container's Earnings Per Share (EPS).

Asset vs Debt

Equity vs Debt

Regional Container's liquidity is one of the most fundamental aspects of both its future profitability and its ability to meet different types of ongoing financial obligations. Regional Container's cash, liquid assets, total liabilities, and shareholder equity can be utilized to evaluate how much leverage the Company is using to sustain its current operations. For traders, higher-leverage indicators usually imply a higher risk to shareholders. In addition, it helps Regional Stock's retail investors understand whether an upcoming fall or rise in the market will negatively affect Regional Container's stakeholders.
For most companies, including Regional Container, marketable securities, inventories, and receivables are the most common assets that could be converted to cash. However, for Regional Container Lines, the most critical issue when managing liquidity is ensuring that current assets are properly aligned with current liabilities. If they are not, Regional Container's management will need to obtain alternative financing to ensure there are always enough cash equivalents on the balance sheet to meet obligations.
  
Check out the analysis of Regional Container Fundamentals Over Time.
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Given the importance of Regional Container's capital structure, the first step in the capital decision process is for the management of Regional Container to decide how much external capital it will need to raise to operate in a sustainable way. Once the amount of financing is determined, management needs to examine the financial markets to determine the terms in which the company can boost capital. This move is crucial to the process because the market environment may reduce the ability of Regional Container Lines to issue bonds at a reasonable cost.

Regional Container Lines Debt to Cash Allocation

Regional Container Lines has accumulated 522.91 M in total debt with debt to equity ratio (D/E) of 0.48, which is about average as compared to similar companies. Regional Container Lines has a current ratio of 0.69, indicating that it has a negative working capital and may not be able to pay financial obligations in time and when they become due. Debt can assist Regional Container until it has trouble settling it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. So, Regional Container's shareholders could walk away with nothing if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt. However, a more frequent occurrence is when companies like Regional Container Lines sell additional shares at bargain prices, diluting existing shareholders. Debt, in this case, can be an excellent and much better tool for Regional to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about Regional Container's use of debt, we should always consider it together with cash and equity.

Regional Container Assets Financed by Debt

Typically, companies with high debt-to-asset ratios are said to be highly leveraged. The higher the ratio, the greater risk will be associated with the Regional Container's operation. In addition, a high debt-to-assets ratio may indicate a low borrowing capacity of Regional Container, which in turn will lower the firm's financial flexibility.

Regional Container Corporate Bonds Issued

Most Regional bonds can be classified according to their maturity, which is the date when Regional Container Lines has to pay back the principal to investors. Maturities can be short-term, medium-term, or long-term (more than ten years). Longer-term bonds usually offer higher interest rates but may entail additional risks.

Understaning Regional Container Use of Financial Leverage

Regional Container's financial leverage ratio helps determine the effect of debt on the overall profitability of the company. It measures Regional Container's total debt position, including all outstanding debt obligations, and compares it with Regional Container's equity. Financial leverage can amplify the potential profits to Regional Container's owners, but it also increases the potential losses and risk of financial distress, including bankruptcy, if Regional Container is unable to cover its debt costs.
Regional Container Lines Public Company Limited, together with its subsidiaries, engages in owning, operating, and managing ships in Thailand and internationally.
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Other Information on Investing in Regional Stock

Regional Container financial ratios help investors to determine whether Regional Stock is cheap or expensive when compared to a particular measure, such as profits or enterprise value. In other words, they help investors to determine the cost of investment in Regional with respect to the benefits of owning Regional Container security.

What is Financial Leverage?

Financial leverage is the use of borrowed money (debt) to finance the purchase of assets with the expectation that the income or capital gain from the new asset will exceed the cost of borrowing. In most cases, the debt provider will limit how much risk it is ready to take and indicate a limit on the extent of the leverage it will allow. In the case of asset-backed lending, the financial provider uses the assets as collateral until the borrower repays the loan. In the case of a cash flow loan, the general creditworthiness of the company is used to back the loan. The concept of leverage is common in the business world. It is mostly used to boost the returns on equity capital of a company, especially when the business is unable to increase its operating efficiency and returns on total investment. Because earnings on borrowing are higher than the interest payable on debt, the company's total earnings will increase, ultimately boosting stockholders' profits.

Leverage and Capital Costs

The debt to equity ratio plays a role in the working average cost of capital (WACC). The overall interest on debt represents the break-even point that must be obtained to profitability in a given venture. Thus, WACC is essentially the average interest an organization owes on the capital it has borrowed for leverage. Let's say equity represents 60% of borrowed capital, and debt is 40%. This results in a financial leverage calculation of 40/60, or 0.6667. The organization owes 10% on all equity and 5% on all debt. That means that the weighted average cost of capital is (.4)(5) + (.6)(10) - or 8%. For every $10,000 borrowed, this organization will owe $800 in interest. Profit must be higher than 8% on the project to offset the cost of interest and justify this leverage.

Benefits of Financial Leverage

Leverage provides the following benefits for companies:
  • Leverage is an essential tool a company's management can use to make the best financing and investment decisions.
  • It provides a variety of financing sources by which the firm can achieve its target earnings.
  • Leverage is also an essential technique in investing as it helps companies set a threshold for the expansion of business operations. For example, it can be used to recommend restrictions on business expansion once the projected return on additional investment is lower than the cost of debt.
By borrowing funds, the firm incurs a debt that must be paid. But, this debt is paid in small installments over a relatively long period of time. This frees funds for more immediate use in the stock market. For example, suppose a company can afford a new factory but will be left with negligible free cash. In that case, it may be better to finance the factory and spend the cash on hand on inputs, labor, or even hold a significant portion as a reserve against unforeseen circumstances.

The Risk of Financial Leverage

The most obvious and apparent risk of leverage is that if price changes unexpectedly, the leveraged position can lead to severe losses. For example, imagine a hedge fund seeded by $50 worth of investor money. The hedge fund borrows another $50 and buys an asset worth $100, leading to a leverage ratio of 2:1. For the investor, this is neither good nor bad -- until the asset price changes. If the asset price goes up 10 percent, the investor earns $10 on $50 of capital, a net gain of 20 percent, and is very pleased with the increased gains from the leverage. However, if the asset price crashes unexpectedly, say by 30 percent, the investor loses $30 on $50 of capital, suffering a 60 percent loss. In other words, the effect of leverage is to increase the volatility of returns and increase the effects of a price change on the asset to the bottom line while increasing the chance for profit as well.