Sale rumors have pushed the stock price of Warner Music Group to new heights.  But a strong stock price does not erase an underlying weakness in the company.  WMG has the highest debt risk as measured by a debt's pay-back period (Debt/EBITDA). Post-Ticketmaster merger, Live Nation sits at #2. "The longer the payback period, the greater the risk," according to Zack's Investment Research who compiled the list. "This metric ignores all tax expenses even though a good portion are cash payments and gets paid first."  The top 5, as measured by Debt/EBITDA:

1. Warner Music (NYSE:WMG) has a Debt/EBITDA ratio of 5.96x based on total debt of $1.9 billion.
2. Live Nation (NYSE:LYV) has a Debt/EBITDA ratio of 5.94x based on total debt of $1.7 billion.
3. Carmike Cinemas (NASDAQ:CKEC) has a Debt/EBITDA ratio of 5.51x based on total debt of $353.4 million.
4. Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE:RGC) has a Debt/EBITDA ratio of 4.64x based on total debt of $2.1 billion.
5. Cinemark (NYSE:CNK) has a Debt/EBITDA ratio of 3.79x based on total debt of $1.7 billion.