Benzinga | Oct 15, 2020 07:15AM EDT

A Look Into Sunrun's Debt

Shares of Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) rose by 58.98% in the past three months. Before having a look at the importance of debt, let us look at how much debt Sunrun has.

Sunrun's Debt

According to the Sunrun's most recent balance sheet as reported on August 10, 2020, total debt is at $2.80 billion, with $2.65 billion in long-term debt and $142.49 million in current debt. Adjusting for $269.57 million in cash-equivalents, the company has a net debt of $2.53 billion.

To understand the degree of financial leverage a company has, investors look at the debt ratio. Considering Sunrun's $6.01 billion in total assets, the debt-ratio is at 0.47. 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 normal for another.

Why Debt Is Important

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. Having financial leverage also allows companies to use additional capital for business operations, allowing equity owners to retain excess profit, generated by the debt capital.