Wednesday morning, Standard & Poor's announced that it may cut AT&T's (T) credit rating because the company could have trouble reducing its debt load within a "reasonable timeframe."

The ratings house placed the communications firm on CreditWatch negative with implications, which includes the company's "A" rating and its "A-1" short-term and commercial paper ratings. S&P stated, that it expects "a potential downgrade of the corporate credit rating, if any, would be limited to one notch." This news has had very little impact on the stock, as shares of the titan of telecom were trading near break-even by late morning.

Continue reading Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T

Standard & Poor's May Downgrade AT&T originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Dress Barn Tapped to Join S&P MidCap 400 Index

Dress Barn Tapped to Join S&P MidCap 400 Index originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Late Friday, Sirius XM Radio (SIRI) expanded the size of its planned senior notes offering from $550 million to $800 million. The sale of senior notes due 2015 was conducted via private placement, with the notes bearing an annual interest rate of 8.75%. Stakeholder Liberty Media (LCAPA) was slated to buy $150 million of the notes.

The offering is intended to provide Sirius the ability to prepay, in full, all of its borrowings under a senior secured term loan that matures in 2012. The satellite radio company will also redeem notes due 2013, and finance the fees and expenses related to the notes offering.

Continue reading Sirius XM Radio Selling $800M in Notes to Pay Down Debt

Sirius XM Radio Selling $800M in Notes to Pay Down Debt originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Genworth Financial (GNW) attracted some mixed attention Tuesday. While the insurance issue started off on the right foot with a price-target boost from KBW, the stock was then slapped with a credit-rating downgrade from Standard & Poor's.

Beginning with KBW, the brokerage firm adjusted its price targets on a slew of U.S. insurers Tuesday morning. In a note to clients, KBW explained that it's overweight on the insurance sector for 2010, because it expects a significant earnings recovery and a modest revenue rebound for the group.

Continue reading Can Genworth Financial Live Up to Its New Price Target?

Can Genworth Financial Live Up to Its New Price Target? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 22 Dec 2009 11:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

What happens when a bank has to accept the collateral posted for loans? Well, in Russia, it's like the punchline to a bad Yakov Smirnoff joke. "In Russia, when a bank takes collateral, it has to set up a pigpen!"

Well, this is exactly what happened to Alexander Lebedev's OAO National Reserve Bank. It wound up with 40,450 of them. As Russian banks are coping with the financial crisis, they are finding themselves with a variety of hard goods that they never expected to receive.

Continue reading Pigs and panties: Russian banks stuck with unexpected collateral

Pigs and panties: Russian banks stuck with unexpected collateral originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading First Solar to join the S&P 500 Index

First Solar to join the S&P 500 Index originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Late Wednesday, Blockbuster Inc. (NYSE: BBI) scored a ratings upgrade from Standard & Poor's. The ratings agency raised Blockbuster's corporate credit rating from "CCC" to "B-" with a stable outlook. S&P commented, "The stable outlook reflects our belief that liquidity will remain adequate over the near term despite continued operational weakness and moderate deterioration of the company's credit protection metrics."

S&P's new rating is still six notches into junk territory, but the upgrade is nevertheless a vote of confidence in Blockbuster's refinancing efforts. On Monday, the video rental firm announced plans to offer up to $340 million in senior secured notes due 2014, and yesterday, Blockbuster said it would close up to 40% of its brick-and-mortar stores during the next two years.

Continue reading S&P, Moody's grow more upbeat on Blockbuster

S&P, Moody's grow more upbeat on Blockbuster originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Moody's (NYSE: MCO) closed down $1.84 to $24.26. A U.S. District Court judge declined to reject a lawsuit against Moody's (MCO) and McGraw Hill's (NYSE: MHP) Standard & Poor's, according to Bloomberg. MCO September and October option implied volatility of 58 is near its 26-week average according to Track Data.

McGraw-Hill closed down $3.30 to $29.01. MHP September and October option implied volatility of 44 is below its 26-week average of 50 according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing price movement.

Option Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com.

Options Update: Moody's and McGraw-Hill puts active after judge declined to reject lawsuit originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Sirius XM Radio gets an upgrade from S&P -- surely you can't be serious

Sirius XM Radio gets an upgrade from S&P -- surely you can't be serious originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 09:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On Friday, Standard & Poor's lowered its corporate credit rating for ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG). The ratings firm lowered CAG's rating to "BBB" from "BBB+" and removed all ratings on the company from CreditWatch with negative implications, attributing the move to weak credit and high operating costs.

S&P noted that higher operating costs have hurt margins, particularly in CAG's consumer foods segment. This part of CAG's business brought in 64% of the firm's fiscal 2008 revenue.

S&P believes that CAG will "modestly improve" credit measures from current levels during the next two years. S&P could revise CAG's outlook to negative if the firm becomes more aggressive in its financial policy. Currently, CAG's outlook is stable.

Continue reading ConAgra's corporate credit rating is downgraded

ConAgra's corporate credit rating is downgraded originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 06 Apr 2009 10:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Just last week, Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) surprised investors with stronger-than-expected first-quarter earnings. Sales during the period were boosted by healthy demand for the company's recession-friendly canned ham-like product, Spam. Today, it seems that Standard & Poor's is revealing its own soft spot for potted meat, announcing that HRL will join its storied S&P 500 Index as of the close of trading on March 3.

Hormel will replace American Capital Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS) in the closely watched broad-market index. The latter stock has given up nearly 96% of its value during the past year, and it's extending those losses today with a plunge of more than 16%.

Continue reading Standard & Poor's invites Spam to join S&P 500 Index

Standard & Poor's invites Spam to join S&P 500 Index originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) to be added to S&P 500

Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO) to be added to S&P 500 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Serious Money: Barron's pumping oil again!

Serious Money: Barron's pumping oil again! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On September 24, 2008 the highly respected firm of Standard & Poors issued its analyst report on Washington Mutual (NYSE: WM). Millions of investors rely on Standard & Poors and other analysts for their unique insight into listed stocks. They devour these reports and make investment decisions based on them. It's the American way of investing, fostered by the financial media and the securities industry.

Analysts with no clothes: The WaMu failure originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Fri, 26 Sep 2008 11:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Analysts at some of the large credit ratings agencies may have had their eyes on the cash register instead of paying attention to the quality of their work. So says the SEC.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "The 10-month examination uncovered poor disclosure practices, a lack of policies and procedures guiding the analysis of mortgage-related debt, and insufficient attention paid to managing conflicts of interests."

That revelation all but buries the already damaged reputations of the ratings firms.

Making money is OK, but the practices may have lost investors billions of dollars. The big credit rating shops like Standard & Poor's have the job of evaluating the risk of products like mortgage-backed securities. Investment banks and their clients thought this paper was fairly safe. It did not turn out that way, not by a long shot.

Continue reading SEC: Ratings agencies cheated, a little

SEC: Ratings agencies cheated, a little originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading S&P thinks telecom stocks may be poised for a rebound

S&P thinks telecom stocks may be poised for a rebound originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.