You want to look at what bankers care about when they determine if a company can handle more debt. You want to look at the debt to equity ratio on the balance sheet. Take total liabilities and divide it by total equity and get a percentage.
But it’s very industry specific. Some industries, by the nature of the industry, borrow a lot of money. Others don’t borrow much money at all. For example, REIT’s will have a debt to equity ratio of over 200% as an industry average. But that’s what they do in real estate. They borrow money and build shopping centers and buildings.
On the other extreme, software has a debt to equity ratio of about 4%. But that’s because the software industry doesn’t need to borrow hardly any money. Microsoft, for example, has $40 billion in cash on their balance sheet. So they have no reason to borrow.
If you’re referring to my comment in today’s SMR about SIL having a lot of debt. Their debt to equity ratio is 118% vs. an industry average of 36%.