The Adani Group controversy and a series of rate hikes have made investors cautious towards high-debt companies. So this week, we look at a screener of companies with high total debt-to-equity ratios. These businesses also saw their long-term debt-to-equity ratio rising and cash flows falling in FY22. 

This screener has 14 stocks from Nifty 500 and five stocks from the Nifty 50 index. Major stocks that show up in the screener are TVS Motor, Tata Motors, Adani Enterprises, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum. 

TVS Motor had the highest annual total debt-to-equity ratio of 3.5X among non-banking stocks. It posted an annual operating cash outflow of Rs 1,560 crore in FY22 against an inflow of Rs 1,151 crore in FY21. In H1FY23, the company’s long-term debt to equity ratio rose to 1.9X from 1.7X in FY22, as borrowings rose by 25%.

Tata Motors had an annual total debt-to-equity ratio of 3.1X in FY22. The company’s total debt-to-equity ratio rose to 5.2X in H1FY23, owing to a sharp rise in long-term liabilities. 

Adani Enterprises had a total debt-to-equity ratio of 1.9X in FY22, which fell to 1.3X in H1FY23, owing to equity fundraising. The company saw its cash flow from operating activities fall by 66% in the past fiscal.

You can find some popular screeners here.