Working Capital Question
So here's what I've learned about working capital. Relatively new on the technicals so I would appreciate it if anyone can lmk if I am approaching this correctly.
1. Negative working capital means that current liabilities > current assets.
- This is generally seen as bad according to some searches online which I can understand but can also be good as companies can fund growth through borrowing
2. Negative change in working capital means that change in assets > change in liabilities
- Would this be good or bad for a company? CF is decreasing with the increased assets but is it fair to say that this can be a company increasing CapEx for example to invest in new factories, etc.
- Obviously, a consistent decrease in CF would be a concern
Is there anything wrong with how I'm thinking about this? Really trying to wrap my head around the concept.
Cheers
Negative NWC is usually a good thing. it usually comes with software companies where their customers pay upfront for multi-year subscriptions. Negative change in NWC is usually good because you are getting more cash. CapEx is not part of working capital so definitely don't mention capex.
Got it on the CapEx comment. So having customers pay upfront for subscriptions would mean their deferred revenue increases correct? Hence the negative NWC.
You're right on everything except that capex isn't part of working capital. Additionally, you need to think about working capital when calculating it - it's important to look at operating working capital to see trends in the operating cash position of the business, not just current assets (ex. cash) minus current liabilities. And there are general rules of thumb, but you always have to look at the trend and see why it's changing in a certain way, because there's no blanket good / bad about how working capital changes. Further, for some industries the trends mean something different than in others - in retail, for example, negative working capital is very common as company purchase payment terms are longer than customer purchases who pay with cash / credit card.
Makes sense, thank you!
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