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Finance: What is the Times Covered Interest Ratio? 23 Views

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What is the Times Interest Coverage Ratio? The interest coverage ratio divides EBIT by interest expenses. It looks at a company’s ability to pay off its interest on debt given earnings. If the ratio is low, these numbers are too close together, which shows that the company struggles to cover interest. The “times” aspect comes in because the ratio shows how many times a company could pay their debts using what they’ve made.

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00:00
finance a la shmoop- what is the times covered interest ratio?
00:07
okay people. we'll just restate the question if it's simpler. from your [girl frowns in classroom]
00:11
operating profits this part of your income statement right here- how many
00:16
times is your interest expense covered? still not simple enough? okay how about
00:21
this? how big a multiple is your operating

00:24
profit of your interest cost? there we set it boom. okay so you run furry nation [definitions listed]
00:31
America's finest purveyor of animal bodysuits. the company has two billion
00:36
dollars in debt on which you pay six percent interest or 120 million dollars
00:39
a year. you really wanted that platinum encrusted fidgets spinner and well you
00:43
just couldn't wait. furry nation has revenues of three billion dollars and [hand spins fidget spinner]
00:47
conveniently has operating profits of 360 million. so how many times larger is
00:51
your operating profit than your yearly interest? well check out the hundred
00:56
twenty million dollars error of interest from before, that number gets divided
01:00
into the operating profit number. and the answer? three. well why does this ratio [equations]
01:04
matter? well the three times interest covered number is a solid indication of
01:09
how easily you can pay the interest if not the principle of the debt you have
01:14
borrowed. think about a normal boom and bust business cycle. in a bad year your [bridge blows up]
01:19
company might shrink to have only two billion of revenues and 180 million
01:23
dollars of operating profits. in which case in that dismal year it would have
01:27
only one point five times interest coverage. in a great year with say 900
01:31
million of operating profit while the coverage ratio would be 6x or 600 [equations]
01:36
percent or six times. now put your butt in the seat of the lender. if you're the
01:41
one who loaned the two billion dollars at 6% while you're getting pretty
01:45
nervous about being able to collect your money back when operating profits are
01:49
down to just one point five times. but it's six times interest well you sleep [woman snores in bed]
01:54
like a baby happy to keep collecting your interest payment though. so why do
01:58
we use operating profits this line here instead of net income or after-tax
02:03
profits this line here when we calculate the times interest ratio? well because
02:08
interest costs are tax-deductible? they're a cost just like [definitions]
02:13
plastic or office building rent or mandatory company yoga retreats. the cost
02:18
of renting money is treated for tax purposes really no different from the
02:22
cost of renting a building. so we don't worry about taxes when we're focused on
02:27
just repaying our debts. just don't try to use that excuse when tax time comes [woman smiles behind desk]
02:32
around though. Uncle Sam well he don't play.
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