shares of horizon therapeutics inc hznp rose by 208 in the past three months before having a look at the importance of debt lets look at how much debt horizon therapeutics has according to the horizon therapeuticss most recent balance sheet as reported on march 1 2023 total debt is at 256 billion with 255 billion in longterm debt and 1600 million in current debt adjusting for 235 billion in cashequivalents the company has a net debt of 21000 million lets define some of the terms we used in the paragraph above current debt is the portion of a companys debt which is due within 1 year while longterm debt is the portion due in more than 1 year cash equivalents includes cash and any liquid securities with maturity periods of 90 days or less total debt equals current debt plus longterm debt minus cash equivalents shareholders look at the debtratio to understand how much financial leverage a company has horizon therapeutics has 911 billion in total assets therefore making the debtratio 028 as a rule of thumb a debtratio more than 1 indicates that a considerable portion of debt is funded by assets a higher debtratio can also imply that the company might be putting itself at risk for default if interest rates were to increase however debtratios vary widely across different industries for example a debt ratio of 35 might be higher for one industry but normal for another besides equity debt is an important factor in the capital structure of a company and contributes to its growth due to its lower financing cost compared to equity it becomes an attractive option for executives trying to raise capital however interestpayment obligations can have an adverse impact on the cashflow of the company equity owners can keep excess profit generated from the debt capital when companies use the debt capital for its business operations looking for stocks with low debttoequity ratios check out benzinga pro a market research platform which provides investors with nearinstantaneous access to dozens of stock metrics  including debttoequity ratio click here to learn more this article was generated by benzingas automated content engine and reviewed by an editor