GlossaryInterest burden
Interest burden
What the company has to pay on an ongoing basis for its capital, as a line in its own pane below the chart: interest on bonds and loans, plus dividends on preferred stock. For treasury companies that pay for their purchases with convertible bonds and preferred stock, this is the fixed burden that has to be covered year after year.
What is drawn
Both are the reported figures for a period. By default each point shows the sum of the last twelve months, that is, the annual burden; with Quarter, that of a single quarter. A company without preferred stock pays only interest.
Each value sits on the day of the report.
The label on the pane's axis shows the most recently reported value.
How to read it
- A rising interest burden means the company's financing has become more expensive, through more debt, higher interest rates or new preferred stock.
- Together with Cash and equivalents you can see how long the reserve will carry the burden, and with Revenue, whether the business earns it.
Good to know
- Only for stocks with reported interest expense. Some companies don't report interest separately; the entry then appears in the menu with “no data”, or the line has gaps.
- It shows what was incurred. New bonds or preferred stock appear with the first report whose period includes their costs.