As of 03/18/2024
  Indus: 38,790 +75.66 +0.2%  
  Trans: 15,418 -81.05 -0.5%  
  Utils: 853 +3.06 +0.4%  
  Nasdaq: 16,103 +130.28 +0.8%  
  S&P 500: 5,149 +32.33 +0.6%  
YTD
 +2.9%  
-3.0%  
-3.2%  
 +7.3%  
 +8.0%  
  Targets    Overview: 03/13/2024  
  Down arrow38,000 or 39,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,300 or 15,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow885 or 830 by 04/01/2024
  Down arrow15,200 or 16,600 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow5,250 or 5,000 by 04/01/2024
As of 03/18/2024
  Indus: 38,790 +75.66 +0.2%  
  Trans: 15,418 -81.05 -0.5%  
  Utils: 853 +3.06 +0.4%  
  Nasdaq: 16,103 +130.28 +0.8%  
  S&P 500: 5,149 +32.33 +0.6%  
YTD
 +2.9%  
-3.0%  
-3.2%  
 +7.3%  
 +8.0%  
  Targets    Overview: 03/13/2024  
  Down arrow38,000 or 39,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow16,300 or 15,350 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow885 or 830 by 04/01/2024
  Down arrow15,200 or 16,600 by 04/01/2024
  Up arrow5,250 or 5,000 by 04/01/2024

Bulkowski on a Company's Long-Term Debt

My book, Fundamental Analysis and Position TradingFundamental Analysis and Position Trading: Evolution of a Trader book., discusses long term debt starting on page 61. I show a picture of the book on the left.

If you click on the above link and then buy the book (or anything) while at Amazon.com, the referral will help support this site. Thanks.

-- Tom Bulkowski

$ $ $

This page reviews a study concerning the stock performance of companies with and without long-term debt.

Summary
Methodology
Results
See Also

Long-Term Debt: Summary

Value Line defines long-term debt as "the portion of borrowings (including bank notes, debentures, and capitalized leases) that will be due not in the current 12 months, but in future operating years."

I thought that debt was bad, that high levels risk ruining the company and no debt was preferred. Too high debt is detrimental, of course, but so is too little debt, according to this study. I found that companies that had long-term debt had stocks that performed better than those companies with no debt.

Long-Term Debt: Methodology

I used the Value Line investment survey and typed in their long-term debt numbers to build a database of 178 stocks with data ranging from 12/30/1991 to 7/11/2008.

After completing the database, I logged the close-to-close price change from 1 to 5 years out, looking forward from the base year. The base year ranged from 1992 to 2006. Not all stocks covered the entire range. Years with no numbers were excluded. The price change measured from the close on the last trading day of each year. Years 2008 and later are not included since the year had not completed as of the time of this study.

Top of page More

Long-Term Debt: Results

The following table shows the stock performance companies with and without debt over time.

  1 Year  2 Years  3 Years  4 Years  5 Years 
Debt12.2%12.9%13.5%14.9%16.2%
Samples1123980851719591
No debt10.6%11.4%12.3%11.1%10.3%
Samples935901857822788

For example, if companies had debt during year 0, they gained an average of 12.2% the following year. Companies with no debt showed stock prices rising 10.6%.

In each of the five years, companies with debt showed better stock performance over the coming one to five years than did those companies with no long-term debt. The reason for this, I believe, is leverage. Those companies with a modest (whatever that means) amount of debt put it to work to make more money. Their stock performance reflected that success by rising.

-- Thomas Bulkowski

Top of page More

See Also

 

Support this site! Clicking any of the books (below) takes you to Amazon.com If you buy ANYTHING while there, they pay for the referral.
Legal notice for paid links: "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases."

My Stock Market Books
My Novels

Copyright © 2005-2024 by Thomas N. Bulkowski. All rights reserved.
Disclaimer: You alone are responsible for your investment decisions. See Privacy/Disclaimer for more information.
Some pattern names are registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Home Advertise Contact Donate Privacy/Disclaimer

Q: What should you give a man who has everything? A: A woman to show him how to work it.Smiley