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L.4 · BEGINNER · 2 MIN

Liquidity Ratios: Can They Pay Their Bills?

Liquidity ratios answer a survival question: can this company pay its bills over the next 12 months? A profitable company can still fail if it runs out of cash at the wrong moment.

Quiz · 5 questions ↓

Live data

MSFT — Debt/Equity. Open MSFT on the Ledge to see current values.

Compare

RatioFormulaGood Sign
Current RatioCurrent Assets / Current LiabilitiesAbove 1.5 (can cover bills with room to spare)
Quick Ratio(Current Assets - Inventory) / Current LiabilitiesAbove 1.0 (can pay without selling inventory)
Interest CoverageEBIT / Interest ExpenseAbove 3.0 (earnings easily cover debt payments)

Formula

Current Ratio = Current Assets / Current Liabilities

Key point

A current ratio below 1.0 means the company has more short-term bills than short-term resources. That is a red flag requiring investigation.

Try it

Find the **Current Ratio** and **Interest Coverage** for MSFT (healthy) and compare to a company under stress.

Key insight

Liquidity is survival. You can have the best product in the world, but if you cannot make payroll next Friday, none of it matters.

Check-in

A company has current ratio 0.7 (current liabilities > current assets) but maintains a $5B undrawn revolving credit facility that rolls for another 4 years. Liquidity crisis?
Check your understanding

Sit with the ideas.

A company has current assets of $800M, current liabilities of $1.2B, and annual interest expense of $100M with EBIT of $300M. What are its current ratio and interest coverage?

Why:
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