Ashford Hospitality Current Financial Leverage

AHT-PH Preferred Stock  USD 13.83  0.11  0.80%   
Ashford Hospitality Trust has over 3.89 Billion in debt which may indicate that it relies heavily on debt financing. Ashford Hospitality's financial risk is the risk to Ashford Hospitality stockholders that is caused by an increase in debt. In other words, with a high degree of financial leverage come high-interest payments, which usually reduce Earnings Per Share (EPS).

Asset vs Debt

Equity vs Debt

Ashford Hospitality's liquidity is one of the most fundamental aspects of both its future profitability and its ability to meet different types of ongoing financial obligations. Ashford Hospitality's cash, liquid assets, total liabilities, and shareholder equity can be utilized to evaluate how much leverage the Company is using to sustain its current operations. For traders, higher-leverage indicators usually imply a higher risk to shareholders. In addition, it helps Ashford Preferred Stock's retail investors understand whether an upcoming fall or rise in the market will negatively affect Ashford Hospitality's stakeholders.
For most companies, including Ashford Hospitality, marketable securities, inventories, and receivables are the most common assets that could be converted to cash. However, for the executing running Ashford Hospitality Trust the most critical issue when dealing with liquidity needs is whether the current assets are properly aligned with its current liabilities. If not, management will need to obtain alternative financing to ensure that there are always enough cash equivalents on the balance sheet in reserve to pay for obligations.
Given that Ashford Hospitality's debt-to-equity ratio measures a Company's obligations relative to the value of its net assets, it is usually used by traders to estimate the extent to which Ashford Hospitality is acquiring new debt as a mechanism of leveraging its assets. A high debt-to-equity ratio is generally associated with increased risk, implying that it has been aggressive in financing its growth with debt. Another way to look at debt-to-equity ratios is to compare the overall debt load of Ashford Hospitality to its assets or equity, showing how much of the company assets belong to shareholders vs. creditors. If shareholders own more assets, Ashford Hospitality is said to be less leveraged. If creditors hold a majority of Ashford Hospitality's assets, the Company is said to be highly leveraged.
  
Check out the analysis of Ashford Hospitality Fundamentals Over Time.

Ashford Hospitality Financial Leverage Rating

Ashford Hospitality Trust bond ratings play a critical role in determining how much Ashford Hospitality have to pay to access credit markets, i.e., the amount of interest on their issued debt. The threshold between investment-grade and speculative-grade ratings has important market implications for Ashford Hospitality's borrowing costs.

Ashford Hospitality Trust Debt to Cash Allocation

As Ashford Hospitality Trust follows its natural business cycle, the capital allocation decisions will not magically go away. Ashford Hospitality's decision-makers have to determine if most of the cash flows will be poured back into or reinvested in the business, reserved for other projects beyond operational needs, or paid back to stakeholders and investors. Many companies eventually find out that there is only so much market out there to be conquered, and adding the next product or service is only half as profitable per unit as their current endeavors. Eventually, the company will reach a point where cash flows are strong, and extra cash is available but not fully utilized. In this case, the company may start buying back its stock from the public or issue more dividends.
The company has accumulated 3.89 B in total debt with debt to equity ratio (D/E) of 950.7, indicating the company may have difficulties to generate enough cash to satisfy its financial obligations. Ashford Hospitality Trust has a current ratio of 2.57, suggesting that it is liquid and has the ability to pay its financial obligations in time and when they become due. Debt can assist Ashford Hospitality until it has trouble settling it off, either with new capital or with free cash flow. So, Ashford Hospitality's shareholders could walk away with nothing if the company can't fulfill its legal obligations to repay debt. However, a more frequent occurrence is when companies like Ashford Hospitality Trust sell additional shares at bargain prices, diluting existing shareholders. Debt, in this case, can be an excellent and much better tool for Ashford to invest in growth at high rates of return. When we think about Ashford Hospitality's use of debt, we should always consider it together with cash and equity.

Ashford Hospitality Assets Financed by Debt

Typically, companies with high debt-to-asset ratios are said to be highly leveraged. The higher the ratio, the greater risk will be associated with the Ashford Hospitality's operation. In addition, a high debt-to-assets ratio may indicate a low borrowing capacity of Ashford Hospitality, which in turn will lower the firm's financial flexibility. Like all other financial ratios, a an Ashford Hospitality debt ratio should be compared their industry average or other competing firms.

Understaning Ashford Hospitality Use of Financial Leverage

Ashford Hospitality financial leverage ratio helps in determining the effect of debt on the overall profitability of the company. It measures Ashford Hospitality's total debt position, including all of outstanding debt obligations, and compares it with the equity. In simple terms, the high financial leverage means the cost of production, together with running the business day-to-day, is high, whereas, lower financial leverage implies lower fixed cost investment in the business and generally considered by investors to be a good sign. So if creditors own a majority of Ashford Hospitality assets, the company is considered highly leveraged. Understanding the composition and structure of overall Ashford Hospitality debt and outstanding corporate bonds gives a good idea of how risky the capital structure of a business and if it is worth investing in it. Financial leverage can amplify the potential profits to Ashford Hospitality's owners, but it also increases the potential losses and risk of financial distress, including bankruptcy, if the firm cannot cover its debt costs. The degree of Ashford Hospitality's financial leverage can be measured in several ways, including by ratios such as the debt-to-equity ratio (total debt / total equity), equity multiplier (total assets / total equity), or the debt ratio (total debt / total assets).
Ashford Hospitality Trust is a real estate investment trust focused on investing opportunistically in the hospitality industry in upper upscale, full-service hotels. Ashford Hospitality operates under REIT - Hotel Motel classification in USA and is traded on New York Stock Exchange.
Please read more on our technical analysis page.
Some investors attempt to determine whether the market's mood is bullish or bearish by monitoring changes in market sentiment. Unlike more traditional methods such as technical analysis, investor sentiment usually refers to the aggregate attitude towards Ashford Hospitality in the overall investment community. So, suppose investors can accurately measure the market's sentiment. In that case, they can use it for their benefit. For example, some tools to gauge market sentiment could be utilized using contrarian indexes, Ashford Hospitality's short interest history, or implied volatility extrapolated from Ashford Hospitality options trading.

Pair Trading with Ashford Hospitality

One of the main advantages of trading using pair correlations is that every trade hedges away some risk. Because there are two separate transactions required, even if Ashford Hospitality position performs unexpectedly, the other equity can make up some of the losses. Pair trading also minimizes risk from directional movements in the market. For example, if an entire industry or sector drops because of unexpected headlines, the short position in Ashford Hospitality will appreciate offsetting losses from the drop in the long position's value.

Moving together with Ashford Preferred Stock

  0.95AHT-PI Ashford Hospitality TrustPairCorr
  0.86AHT-PD Ashford Hospitality TrustPairCorr
  0.93AHT-PF Ashford Hospitality TrustPairCorr

Moving against Ashford Preferred Stock

  0.51BHR-PD Braemar Hotels ResortsPairCorr
The ability to find closely correlated positions to Ashford Hospitality could be a great tool in your tax-loss harvesting strategies, allowing investors a quick way to find a similar-enough asset to replace Ashford Hospitality when you sell it. If you don't do this, your portfolio allocation will be skewed against your target asset allocation. So, investors can't just sell and buy back Ashford Hospitality - that would be a violation of the tax code under the "wash sale" rule, and this is why you need to find a similar enough asset and use the proceeds from selling Ashford Hospitality Trust to buy it.
The correlation of Ashford Hospitality is a statistical measure of how it moves in relation to other instruments. This measure is expressed in what is known as the correlation coefficient, which ranges between -1 and +1. A perfect positive correlation (i.e., a correlation coefficient of +1) implies that as Ashford Hospitality moves, either up or down, the other security will move in the same direction. Alternatively, perfect negative correlation means that if Ashford Hospitality Trust moves in either direction, the perfectly negatively correlated security will move in the opposite direction. If the correlation is 0, the equities are not correlated; they are entirely random. A correlation greater than 0.8 is generally described as strong, whereas a correlation less than 0.5 is generally considered weak.
Correlation analysis and pair trading evaluation for Ashford Hospitality can also be used as hedging techniques within a particular sector or industry or even over random equities to generate a better risk-adjusted return on your portfolios.
Pair CorrelationCorrelation Matching
Check out the analysis of Ashford Hospitality Fundamentals Over Time.
You can also try the Stocks Directory module to find actively traded stocks across global markets.

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When running Ashford Hospitality's price analysis, check to measure Ashford Hospitality's market volatility, profitability, liquidity, solvency, efficiency, growth potential, financial leverage, and other vital indicators. We have many different tools that can be utilized to determine how healthy Ashford Hospitality is operating at the current time. Most of Ashford Hospitality's value examination focuses on studying past and present price action to predict the probability of Ashford Hospitality's future price movements. You can analyze the entity against its peers and the financial market as a whole to determine factors that move Ashford Hospitality's price. Additionally, you may evaluate how the addition of Ashford Hospitality to your portfolios can decrease your overall portfolio volatility.
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Please note, there is a significant difference between Ashford Hospitality's value and its price as these two are different measures arrived at by different means. Investors typically determine if Ashford Hospitality is a good investment by looking at such factors as earnings, sales, fundamental and technical indicators, competition as well as analyst projections. However, Ashford Hospitality's price is the amount at which it trades on the open market and represents the number that a seller and buyer find agreeable to each party.

What is Financial Leverage?

Financial leverage is the use of borrowed money (debt) to finance the purchase of assets with the expectation that the income or capital gain from the new asset will exceed the cost of borrowing. In most cases, the debt provider will limit how much risk it is ready to take and indicate a limit on the extent of the leverage it will allow. In the case of asset-backed lending, the financial provider uses the assets as collateral until the borrower repays the loan. In the case of a cash flow loan, the general creditworthiness of the company is used to back the loan. The concept of leverage is common in the business world. It is mostly used to boost the returns on equity capital of a company, especially when the business is unable to increase its operating efficiency and returns on total investment. Because earnings on borrowing are higher than the interest payable on debt, the company's total earnings will increase, ultimately boosting stockholders' profits.

Leverage and Capital Costs

The debt to equity ratio plays a role in the working average cost of capital (WACC). The overall interest on debt represents the break-even point that must be obtained to profitability in a given venture. Thus, WACC is essentially the average interest an organization owes on the capital it has borrowed for leverage. Let's say equity represents 60% of borrowed capital, and debt is 40%. This results in a financial leverage calculation of 40/60, or 0.6667. The organization owes 10% on all equity and 5% on all debt. That means that the weighted average cost of capital is (.4)(5) + (.6)(10) - or 8%. For every $10,000 borrowed, this organization will owe $800 in interest. Profit must be higher than 8% on the project to offset the cost of interest and justify this leverage.

Benefits of Financial Leverage

Leverage provides the following benefits for companies:
  • Leverage is an essential tool a company's management can use to make the best financing and investment decisions.
  • It provides a variety of financing sources by which the firm can achieve its target earnings.
  • Leverage is also an essential technique in investing as it helps companies set a threshold for the expansion of business operations. For example, it can be used to recommend restrictions on business expansion once the projected return on additional investment is lower than the cost of debt.
By borrowing funds, the firm incurs a debt that must be paid. But, this debt is paid in small installments over a relatively long period of time. This frees funds for more immediate use in the stock market. For example, suppose a company can afford a new factory but will be left with negligible free cash. In that case, it may be better to finance the factory and spend the cash on hand on inputs, labor, or even hold a significant portion as a reserve against unforeseen circumstances.

The Risk of Financial Leverage

The most obvious and apparent risk of leverage is that if price changes unexpectedly, the leveraged position can lead to severe losses. For example, imagine a hedge fund seeded by $50 worth of investor money. The hedge fund borrows another $50 and buys an asset worth $100, leading to a leverage ratio of 2:1. For the investor, this is neither good nor bad -- until the asset price changes. If the asset price goes up 10 percent, the investor earns $10 on $50 of capital, a net gain of 20 percent, and is very pleased with the increased gains from the leverage. However, if the asset price crashes unexpectedly, say by 30 percent, the investor loses $30 on $50 of capital, suffering a 60 percent loss. In other words, the effect of leverage is to increase the volatility of returns and increase the effects of a price change on the asset to the bottom line while increasing the chance for profit as well.