Net Debt Calculator

The outstanding net debt calculator indicates the remaining debt after using all the most liquid assets to pay it, giving an idea of the company's current level of indebtedness. In this article, we will cover what the net debt is, see the net debt formula, explore its calculation, and discuss a real-life net debt of a public company.

The net debt is the result of subtracting all the most liquid assets of a company (cash and cash equivalents) from its total obligations (liabilities). Its value informs shareholders regarding the amount of money in the company accounts to pay other parties. In other words, it is the net amount of money that does not belong to the company.

For a deeper understanding, we will start with the total debt definition. Total debt includes all economic obligations the business/company has to other parties. It contains short-term debt and long-term debt.

Short-term liabilities are a form of debt that the company has to liquidate in less than a year. Accountants call it: current liabilities. Some examples are:

• Accounts payables;
• Wage payables;
• Utility payables;
• Deferred revenues within 12 months of due time;
• Short-term debt;
• Current portion of long-term debt; and
• Current portion of leases.

We recommend you check the (current ratio calculator)[calc:1153] for more financial analysis based on the current liabilities. On the other hand, long-term liabilities are obligations that are due in a period longer than a year. Some examples are:

• Bonds
• Long-term bank loans;
• Deferred revenue
• Pension plans;
• Leases, etc.

Generally, this debt bears interest and is crucial since companies pay interest from their operations, as you can see in the interest coverage ratio calculator.

Once we have total debt, we subtract its cash and cash equivalents (CCE). The latter is everything the company can convert into cash in less than 90 days. We consider certificates of deposit, treasury bills/notes, commercial papers, and money in market funds as cash equivalents.

The result helps analyze the funding structure of the company. See, for example, the debt to equity calculator, which warns us if the company is using much more credit than equity for its operations. Do not forget that the more debt, the more important the interest coverage; otherwise, the company might be on the verge of bankruptcy.

As you pretty much imagined, the net debt formula is:

where:

• $\footnotesize \rm CCE$ refers to "cash and cash equivalents",
• $\footnotesize \rm NCL$ refers to "non-current liabilities" or the "long-term liabilities".

You can find the first two items in the liabilities section and the third one in the assets section of a company's accounts. Here, it is important to mention one variation to the net debt.

Some analysts and investors only consider the liabilities that charge interest. In such case, you would not consider accounts payable, wages payables, dividends payable, among others, that do not bear interest. That debt is called: Net Financial Debt. (NFD) It would include:

where:

• $\footnotesize \rm STD$ — Short term debt;
• $\footnotesize \rm CPLTD$ — Current portion of long term debt;
• $\footnotesize \rm CPL$ — Current portion of leases; and
• $\footnotesize \rm LTD$ — Long term debt.

Our net debt calculator is quite easy to understand; in the first section, you have to fill in the values for short-term liabilities, long-term liabilities, and cash & cash equivalents. Let's explore Tesla Motors net debt:

$\footnotesize \rm{CCE = 16,065 \ MUSD \ (millions \ USD)}$

$\footnotesize \rm{CL = 18,051 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm{NCL =11,289 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm Net\ debt = 18,\!051 \ MUSD + 11,\!289 \ MUSD$ $\footnotesize\rm - 16,065 \ MUSD = 13,275 \ MUSD$

Furthermore, we will calculate its financial debt. From its quarterly report page 21, we have:

$\footnotesize \rm{CPLTD = 1,207 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm{Current \ part \ of \ leases = 509 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm{Non \ Current \ Long \ Term \ Debt = 5,439 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm{Non \ current \ part \ of \ leases = 999 \ MUSD}$

Then, we will have:

$\footnotesize \rm{CL = 1,716 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm{NCL= 6438 \ MUSD}$

$\footnotesize \rm NFD = 1,716 \ MUSD + 6,438 \ MUSD$
$\footnotesize \rm - 16,065 \ MUSD$

$\footnotesize \rm{ NFD = -7,911 \ MUSD}$

Tesla Motors has a negative net financial debt, which puts it in a strong position to acquire more interest-bearing debt to help sustain its growth.

The best way to analyze the net debt calculator results is by building up a trend over the years and comparing it to other financial metrics like:

1. Net debt compared to profits: The debt to income ratio relates to how much profit the company is making compared to the debt it's taking on. Notice that debt can help the company grow, but managers have to use it efficiently.

2. Debt service coverage: The debt service coverage ratio calculator indicates how much of EBITDA the company can use to make the every-year interest and principal payments. We recommend a value of 2 at least.

3. Debt to assets: The debt to asset ratio calculator shows how much debt the company used for funding the acquisition of the assets. We recommend a value of no more than 80%.

4. Cash flow to debt ratio: Free cash flow represents the money left for paying dividends, buying back stocks, other business acquisitions, and debt repayments. With this ratio, you will find out how the cash flow stands against the company's debt.