CreditSights

CreditSights: Top Articles Read (April #) What's In Your Covenant Package? The Bounds Of Fair Play  Rewriting the Regulatory Rules: A First Glance at the Paulson Plan  Icelandic Banks: Sitting On The CDS Volcano  UBS and Deutsche...

CreditSights: Weekend Reader (April #) Our Weekend Reader is a compilation of all CreditSights articles published from March ## - April #.The Weekend Reader is divided into Strategy, BondScore, Corporate Developments, Spreadsheets,...

Housing Weekly Monitor: March Performance The equity and corporate debt markets are seemingly at a deep divide as to their outlook for the housing market-although a closer examination of the two indicates that their perspectives are...

Euro Markets Weekend Reader (April ##) Our Euro Markets Weekend Reader is a compilation of all CreditSights articles published to the Euro Markets page from ## March - ## April. The Weekend Reader is divided into European Finance, European...

Printing & Writing Paper Monthly: March #### We discuss the dramatic turnaround in North American coated paper markets as producers announced their second $##/ton price hike in ####. European producers also announced their second price...

BIS Weighs In On The Regulatory Response To The Credit Crisis The Joint Forum of the Bank for International Settlements, which encompasses the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the IOSCO, and the International Association of Insurance...

Bombardier #Q##: Flying Back Into Investment Grade Territory? Bombardier reported strong results driven by increased regional aircraft and business jet deliveries, and solid performance at its Transportation segment. The RJ market...

Spotlight on Teekay Corporation TK continues to segment itself into an operating parent and public asset owning affiliates. The consolidated fleet is growing but profitability is shrinking. ##% of cash flow is from fixed-rate contracts....

GOL Intelligent Airlines - Consolidated #Q## Load Factor only ##% Consolidated load factor dropped to ##% in March, ##% for #Q##. Varig international load factor was only ##%. Demand growth is strong, but overwhelmed by capacity additions....

Nucor #Q## Tearsheet NUE typically maintains one of the strongest balance sheets in the steel industry, and is more profitable than its NA peers. As a scrap recycler, the company generates free cash from the spread between scrap and...

US Steel #Q## Tearsheet US Steel is the largest US based steelmaker, with integrated operations that focus on the commoditized portion of the market.Steel prices have increased rapidly in the first quarter despite lackluster volumes...

Safeway #Q## Tearsheet Despite intense competition, SWY has successfully carved out its own niche with the Lifestyle store format and demonstrated that there is demand for better customer service and quality food offerings. These strategies,...

Campbell Soup #Q## Tearsheet CPB represents a stable operator that has weathered the input cost headwind relatively smoothly on successful pricing actions and productivity initiatives. Despite changes in consumer eating habits, CPB...

Natural Gas: Prices Fall on Smaller-than-Expected Withdrawal Natural gas prices declined by $#.##/mcf, or #%, to settle at $#.##/mcf following Thursday's EIA report of a smaller-than-expected natural gas withdrawal.  The EIA reported...

Sovereign Bancorp #Q## Tearsheet Sovereign's ratings trends are negative at Moody's, as the agency reconsiders whether to give rating support for the minority investment by Santander. S&P has been more conservative in its view, and...

Capital One #Q## Tearsheet Capital One's (A#/BBB) ratings trends are stable, as S&P pulled its positive outlook in November.We believe the company's ratings should remain in investment grade range, even if credit quality worsens based...

Marshall & Ilsley #Q## Tearsheet Marshall & Ilsley's (A#/A(Neg)) ratings trends are mildly negative. S&P placed a Negative outlook on M&I after the company announced its acquisition of First Indiana in May ####. We view an S&P downgrade...

IPG #Q## Tearsheet Interpublic was a study in poorly integrated acquisitions but has made progress since its near-death experience and change of management.Above all, keeping plenty of cash on hand allowed IPG to work through financial...

Oracle: Issues $# Billion In New Debt Oracle has issued $# billion in new debt in order to finance the acquisition of BEA Systems.  The new senior unsecured bonds came in three tranches: $#.## billion of #-year #.##% notes at a spread...

Gaming, Lodging, and Leisure: Credit and Sector Review (EXCERPT) Most operators have yet to report a tangible impact from a weakening consumer, but the data is increasingly painting that picture, and managers are beginning to scale...

Revisiting Sprint Nextel (Part # of #): Stock, Bonds, CDS Valuation, and Ratings Downgrades In this seven-article series, we revisit the following subjects related to Sprint Nextel: our updated investment thesis; how much more subscriber...

Earnings Note: #Q## Monsanto - MONster Growth Monsanto reported #Q## sales of $#.## billion and adjusted EBITDA of $#.## billion, up ##% and ##%, respectively from the prior year.  The healthy results were again driven by the strong...

Freddie Mac RMBS Risks - Stressing the Stress Test Freddie Mac's own published stress test of its $###bn RMBS portfolio suggests that losses will only amount to less than #.#%. We discuss possible flaws in the methodology of its stress...