What Is the Asset Coverage Ratio?

The asset coverage ratio is a financial metric that measures how well a company can repay its debts by selling or liquidating its assets. The asset coverage ratio is important because it helps lenders, investors, and analysts measure the financial solvency of a company. Banks and creditors often look for a minimum asset coverage ratio before lending money.

Understanding the Asset Coverage Ratio

The asset coverage ratio provides creditors and investors with the ability to gauge the level of risk associated with investing in a company. Once the coverage ratio is calculated, it can be compared to the ratios of companies within the same industry or sector.

It’s important to note that the ratio is less reliable when comparing it to companies of different industries. Companies within certain industries may typically carry more debt on their balance sheet than others.

For example, a software company might not have much debt while an oil producer is usually more capital intensive, meaning it carries more debt to finance the expensive equipment, such as oil rigs but then again has assets on its balance sheet to back the loans.

Asset Coverage Ratio Calculation

The asset coverage ratio is calculated with the following equation:

((Assets – Intangible Assets) – (Current Liabilities – Short-term Debt)) / Total Debt

In this equation, “assets” refers to total assets, and “intangible assets” are assets that can’t be physically touched, such as goodwill or patents. “Current liabilities” are liabilities due within one year, and “short-term debt” is debt that is also due within one year. “Total debt” includes both short-term and long-term debt. All of these line items can be found in the annual report.

How the Asset Coverage Ratio is Used

Companies that issue shares of stock or equity to raise funds don’t have a financial obligation to pay those funds back to investors. However, companies that issue debt via a bond offering or borrow capital from banks or other financial companies have an obligation to make timely payments and, ultimately, pay back the principal amount borrowed.

As a result, banks and investors holding a company’s debt want to know that a company’s earnings or profits are sufficient to cover future debt obligations, but they also want to know what happens if earnings falter.

In other words, the asset coverage ratio is a solvency ratio. It measures how well a company can cover its short-term debt obligations with its assets. A company that has more assets than it does short-term debt and liability obligations indicates to the lender that the company has a better chance of paying back the funds it lends in the event company earnings can not cover the debt.

The higher the asset coverage ratio, the more times a company can cover its debt. Therefore, a company with a high asset coverage ratio is considered to be less risky than a company with a low asset coverage ratio.

If earnings are not enough to cover the company’s financial obligations, the company might be required to sell assets to generate cash. The asset coverage ratio tells creditors and investors how many times the company’s assets can cover its debts in the event earnings are not enough to cover debt payments.

Compared to debt service ratio, asset coverage ratio is an extreme or last recourse ratio because the assets coverage is an extreme use of the assets’ value under a liquidation scenario, which is not an extraordinary event.

Special Considerations

There is one caveat to consider when interpreting the asset coverage ratio. Assets found on the balance sheet are held at their book value, which is often higher than the liquidation or selling value in the event a company would need to sell assets to repay debts. The coverage ratio may be slightly inflated. This concern can be partially eliminated by comparing the ratio against other companies in the same industry.

Example of the Asset Coverage Ratio

For example, let’s say Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) has an asset coverage ratio of 1.5, meaning that there are 1.5x’s more assets than debts. Let’s say Chevron Corporation (CVX)–which is within the same industry as Exxon–has a comparable ratio of 1.4, and even though the ratios are similar, they don’t tell the whole story.

If Chevron’s ratio for the prior two periods was .8 and 1.1, the 1.4 ratio in the current period shows the company has improved its balance sheet by increasing assets or deleveraging–paying down debt. Conversely, let’s say Exxon’s asset coverage ratio was 2.2 and 1.8 for the prior two periods, the 1.5 ratio in the current period could be the start of a worrisome trend of decreasing assets or increasing debt.

In other words, it’s not enough to merely analyze one period’s asset coverage ratio. Instead, it’s important to determine what the trend has been over multiple periods and compare that trend with like companies.

What Is an Appraisal?

An appraisal is a valuation of property, such as real estate, a business, collectible, or an antique, by the estimate of an authorized person. The authorized appraiser must have a designation from a regulatory body governing the jurisdiction of the appraiser. Appraisals are typically used for insurance and taxation purposes or to determine a possible selling price for an item or property.

Understanding Appraisals

Appraisals are used in many types of transactions, including real estate. If a home valuation, for example, comes in below the amount of the purchase price, mortgage lenders are likely to decline to fund the deal. Unless the prospective buyer is willing and able to come up with the difference between the appraised value and the lender’s financing offer, the transaction will not go forward.

The appraiser can use any number of valuation methods to determine the appropriate value of an item or property, including comparing the current market value of similar properties or objects.

Appraisals are also done for tax purposes when determining the value of charitable donations for itemized deductions. Deductions can reduce your taxes owed to the IRS by deducting the value of your donation from your taxable income.

Appraisals can also be a helpful tool in resolving conflicts between heirs to an estate by establishing the value of the real estate or personal property to be divided.

Types of Appraisals

Home Appraisals

A home valuation is necessary during the process of buying and selling a home, as well as a refinance of an existing mortgage. A refinance is when a loan or mortgage is reevaluated and updated to current interest rates and new terms.

An appraisal determines the home’s value to ensure that the price reflects the home’s condition, age, location, and features such as the number of bathrooms. Also, valuations help banks and lenders avoid loaning more money to the borrower than the house is worth.

In the event of default, when the borrower can’t make the payments anymore, the bank uses the appraisal as a valuation of the home. If the home is in foreclosure, whereby the bank takes possession of the house, it must be resold to help the lender recoup any losses from making the mortgage loan.

It’s important to remember that when a bank lends for a mortgage, it gives the full amount of the home’s value to the seller on the date it’s sold. In other words, the bank is out the money and, in return, has a promise to pay, plus interest, from the borrower. As a result, the valuation is important to the lending process since it helps the bank avoid losses and protect itself against lending more than it might be able to recover if the borrower defaults.

Collectibles or Antiques

Professional appraisals can be done for many items, including collectibles, antiques, or grandma’s silver. Ideally, you’ll want multiple valuations for an item from an accredited professional. Appraisers might charge an hourly rate or a flat fee. 

A certified appraiser’s valuation will likely be fair and unbiased, whereas the local collectible shop has an incentive to offer you less for the item. Also, owners can get an idea of an item’s value by checking collectible magazines and online appraisal websites. Most websites charge a small fee, such as $10, to value an item. Of course, obtaining a value online is done through photos of the item and is not an official valuation, but it should give you an idea of what it’s worth before proceeding. If you decide to pursue an appraisal, the American Society of Appraisers has thousands of members and is a great place to begin searching for an accredited professional.

Appraisals and Insurance

Some types of insurance policies also require appraisals of goods being insured. Homeowners’ and renters’ insurance policies protect policyholders against the loss of personal property due to theft or damage. These blanket policies cover items up to a preset dollar limit. Obtaining an appraisal of the contents of a home creates an inventory of the owner’s property and establishes its value, which helps to ensure a swift settlement if a claim is filed.

When the value of specific items exceeds a homeowners policy limit, the policyholder may wish to obtain additional insurance that covers luxury items such as jewelry or collectibles, including art objects and antiques. Before issuing personal property insurance policies for high-end items, many insurance underwriters require applicants to have the object appraised. The appraisal creates a record of the item’s existence, along with its description. It also helps establish the item’s actual value.

Some insurance contracts include an appraisal clause that specifies the owner agrees to obtain an appraisal from a mutually agreeable expert in the event of a dispute between the owner and the insurance company. Neutral appraisals can speed the resolution of a settlement and keep disputes from escalating into lengthy and expensive lawsuits.

Home Appraisal Process and Cost

The home appraisal process typically begins after a buyer makes an offer on a home and that offer is accepted by the seller. The buyer’s mortgage lender or broker may order the appraisal on their behalf, though the buyer is typically expected to pay for it out of pocket. On average, a home appraisal for a single-family property runs between $300 and $450 while appraisals for multi-family homes can start at around $500.

Once the appraisal is ordered, the appraiser will schedule a time to visit the property. The appraiser will then conduct a thorough review of the interior and exterior of the home to determine what it’s worth. This may require them to take measurements or photos of the property. Appraisals can take a few minutes to a few hours to complete, depending on the details of the home and the appraiser’s methods.

After visiting the home, the appraiser will use the information they’ve collected to create a reasonable estimate for the home’s value. At this stage, the appraiser will also look at the values of comparable homes in the area. Using these comps and what they’ve learned from visiting the home, the appraiser will prepare an appraisal report that includes a figure that represents their perceived value of the home.

A copy of this appraisal report is then shared with the buyer and the buyer’s mortgage lender. It can take anywhere from a week to 10 days for the report to be completed. Sellers can also request a copy of the report.

If a buyer disagrees with the appraisal report, they can request a reconsideration from the lender or opt to pay for a second appraisal.

How To Improve Your Home’s Appraisal Value

The appraisal process is meant to be objective, but appraisers are human. Good curb appeal and clean, uncluttered rooms send a message of a well-maintained home. And they can be achieved without a great deal of time or expense. There are some easy ways to quickly improve the appraised value of your home:

• Lean and uncluttered rooms convey the message that a home is well-maintained.
• Minor cosmetic improvements can make a big difference.
• Point out any major improvements you’ve made to the appraiser, in case they miss them.

On the other hand, you should avoid big expensive improvements just for the sake of increasing your home’s appraisal value. They generally don’t pay off.

Make sure you know your rights as well. If you hire the appraiser to determine your home’s value, the appraisal belongs to you. If you’re refinancing your mortgage and the lender hires the appraiser, the lender is required to provide you with a copy–possibly for a reasonable fee–of the appraisal and any other home value estimates.

If you think the appraiser has the value wrong, first review the written appraisal for errors. Check whether the comps the appraiser chose are reasonably similar to your home. If you still think the price is incorrect, you can appeal the valuation with your lender or ask it to order a second appraisal. 

The Bottom Line

An appraisal is an assessment of the fair market value of a property, business, antique, or even a collectible. Appraisals are used to estimate the value of items that are infrequently traded, and are often rare or unique. The authorized appraiser must have a designation from a regulatory body governing the jurisdiction of the appraiser. Appraisals can be done for many reasons such as tax purposes when valuing charitable donations, but the most familiar form of appraisal is for a property.

Home appraisals can positively or negatively impact the sale of a house or property, and so are an important part of the process of financing a house. A home appraisal is almost always a requirement when purchasing a home with a mortgage, for example, and if you are refinancing your property your lender may hire their own appraiser to make a valuation of your home.

What is Authorized Stock?

Authorized stock, or authorized shares, refers to the maximum number of shares that a corporation is legally permitted to issue, as specified in its articles of incorporation in the U.S., or in the company’s charter in other parts of the world. It is also usually listed in the capital accounts section of the balance sheet. Authorized shares should not be confused with outstanding shares, which are the number of shares the corporation has actually issued that are held by the public.

Authorized stock is also known as authorized shares or authorized capital stock.

Understanding Authorized Stock

When a company is formed, it decides on the maximum number of shares it would like to offer. These shares are referred to as authorized stock. The shares that are issued to the public to trade on the open markets comprise all or a portion of a company’s authorized stock. The number of shares actually available to trade is known as float. In addition, restricted shares, which are reserved for employee compensation and incentives, are also part of authorized shares. The total number of a company’s outstanding shares as seen in the balance sheet is the sum of float and restricted shares. If outstanding shares are less than authorized shares, the difference (unissued stock) is what the company retains in its treasury. A company that issues all of its authorized stock will have its outstanding shares equal to authorized shares. Outstanding shares can never exceed the authorized number, since the authorized shares total is the maximum number of shares that a company can issue.

Why a Company Might Not Issue All of Its Authorized Shares

The number of authorized shares is typically higher than those actually issued, which allows the company to offer and sell more shares in the future if it needs to raise additional funds. For example, if a company has 1 million authorized shares, it might only sell 500,000 of the shares during its initial public offering (IPO). The company might reserve 50,000 of authorized stock as stock options to attract and retain employees. It might sell 150,000 more in a secondary offering to raise more money in the future. The unissued stock that will be retained in the company’s treasury account will be 1 million – 500,000 – 50,000 – 150,000 = 300,000.

Another reason a company might not want to issue all of its authorized shares is to maintain a controlling interest in the company and prevent the possibility of a hostile takeover.

Example of Authorized Stock

Amazon’s corporate charter, for example, states that the company’s total authorized stock shall include 5 billion shares of common stock and 500 million shares of preferred stock. The charter permits Amazon to increase its authorized stock if there isn’t enough unissued common stock to allow for the conversion of preferred stock. Corporate charters often require shareholder approval to increase the number of shares of authorized stock.

An investor might want to know how many authorized shares a company has in order to analyze the potential for stock dilution. Dilution reduces a stockholder’s share of ownership and voting power in a company and reduces a stock’s earnings per share (EPS) following the issue of new stock. The larger the difference between the number of authorized shares and the number of outstanding shares, the greater the potential for dilution.

What Is an Allotment?

The term allotment refers to the systematic distribution or assignment of resources in a business to various entities over time. Allotment generally means the distribution of equity, particularly shares granted to a participating underwriting firm during an initial public offering (IPO).

There are several types of allotment that arise when new shares are issued and allocated to either new or existing shareholders. Companies allot shares and other resources when demand is much stronger than the available supply.

Understanding Allotments

In business, allotment describes the systematic distribution of resources across different entities and over time. In finance, the term typically relates to the allocation of shares during a public share issuance. When a private company wants to raise capital for any reason (to fund operations, make a large purchase, or acquire a rival), it may decide to issue shares by going public. Two or more financial institutions usually underwrite a public offering. Each underwriter receives a specific number of shares to sell.

The allotment process can get somewhat complicated during an IPO, even for individual investors. That’s because stock markets are incredibly efficient mechanisms for matching prices and quantities, but the demand must be estimated before an IPO takes place. Investors must express interest in how many shares they would like to purchase at a specific price before the IPO.

If demand is too high, the actual allotment of shares received by an investor may be lower than the amount requested. If demand is too low, which means the IPO is undersubscribed, then the investor may be able to get the desired allotment at a lower price.

On the other hand, low demand often leads to the share price falling after the IPO takes place. This means that the allotment is oversubscribed.

Other Forms of Allotment

An IPO is not the only case of share allocation. Allotment can also occur when a company’s directors earmark new shares to predetermined shareholders. These are investors who have either applied for new shares or earned them by owning existing shares. For example, the company allocates shares proportionately based on existing ownership in a stock split.

Companies allot shares to their employees through employee stock options (ESOs). This is a form of compensation that companies offer to attract new and keep existing employees in addition to salaries and wages. ESOs incentivize employees to perform better by increasing the number of shares without diluting ownership.

Rights offerings or rights issues allocate shares to investors who wish to purchase more rather than doing so automatically. Thus, it gives investors the right but not the obligation to purchase additional shares in the company. Some companies may elect to do a rights issue to the shareholders of a company they want to acquire. This allows the acquiring company to raise capital by giving investors in the target firm an ownership stake in the newly formed company.

Reasons for Raising Shares

The number one reason a company issues new shares for allotment is to raise money to finance business operations. An IPO is also used to raise capital. In fact, there are very few other reasons why a company would issue and allocate new shares.

New shares can be issued to repay a public company’s short- or long-term debt. Paying down debt helps a company with interest payments. It also changes critical financial ratios such as the debt-to-equity ratio and debt-to-asset ratio. There are times when a company may want to issue new shares, even if there is little or no debt. When companies face situations where current growth is outpacing sustainable growth, they may issue new shares to fund the continuation of organic growth.

Company directors may issue new shares to fund the acquisition or takeover of another business. In the case of a takeover, new shares can be allotted to existing shareholders of the acquired company, efficiently exchanging their shares for equity in the acquiring company.

As a form of reward to existing shareholders and stakeholders, companies issue and allot new shares. A scrip dividend, for example, is a dividend that gives equity holders some new shares proportional to the value of what they would have received had the dividend been cash.

Overallotment Options

There are options for underwriters where additional shares can be sold in an IPO or follow-on offering. This is called an overallotment or greenshoe option.

In an overallotment, underwriters have the option to issue more than 15% shares than the company originally intended to do. This option doesn’t have to be exercised the day of the overallotment. Instead, companies can take as long as 30 days to do so. Companies do this when shares trade higher than the offering price and when demand is really high.

Overallotments allow companies to stabilize the price of their shares on the stock market while ensuring it floats below the offering price. If the price increases above this threshold, underwriters can purchase the additional shares at the offering price. Doing so ensures they don’t have to deal with losses. But if the price falls below the offering price, underwriters can decrease the supply by purchasing some of the shares. This may push the price up.