What does interest coverage mean?

How many times the company's operating profit covers its interest bill.

How do you interpret interest coverage?

Higher is safer; below ~2× is a warning that earnings provide little cushion against the debt burden. Debt-free companies have no interest expense and the ratio is left blank.

How does interest coverage compare across companies?

Comparable across leveraged non-financials; less relevant for net-cash companies with negligible interest.

Cincinnati Financial CINF Interest coverage

Interest coverage at other companies

W.R. BerkleyWRB

19.6×+1.0×

LoewsL

6×+1.0×

ProgressivePGR

52.5×+12.7×

The Travelers CompaniesTRV

22.4×+7.9×

The Hartford Financial Services GroupHIG

26.3×+6.6×

ChubbCB

19.4×+4.3×

Other financials

Income statement

See full

Revenue$2.9B+11.6%

Net income$274.0M+404%

EPS (diluted)$1.75+407%

Balance sheet

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Cash & equivalents$1.2B+19.8%

Total debt$791.0M+0.1%

Total equity$15.7B+14.5%

Total assets$41.2B+10.6%

Cash flow

See full

Operating cash flow$656.0M+112%

CapEx$2.0M-33.3%

Free cash flow$654.0M+113%

Valuation

See full

Market cap$26.33B+5.9%

Enterprise value$25.91B+5.1%

P/E9.6×-7.6×

P/S2×-0.2×

Profitability

See full

Net margin21.3%+8.1pp

Returns & leverage

See full

Return on equity18.7%+7.8pp

Debt / equity0.1×0.0×

Questions, answered.

What does interest coverage mean?: How many times the company's operating profit covers its interest bill.
How do you interpret interest coverage?: Higher is safer; below ~2× is a warning that earnings provide little cushion against the debt burden. Debt-free companies have no interest expense and the ratio is left blank.
How does interest coverage compare across companies?: Comparable across leveraged non-financials; less relevant for net-cash companies with negligible interest.