Converting to Solar

Financial bubbles, not unlike supernovas, leave reminders of their explosions throughout the market Universe.

A bubble in alternative energy, and particularly Solar stocks grew quietly in 2006-2008 and burst pretty much in tandem with other bubbles such as the one in housing.

What were boom times have turned into dark times for solar companies, as competition is fierce and subsidies have been subsiding. Many of these companies are Chinese, so the Yuan’s recent revaluation has become a new concern.

But solar companies did take advantage of the demand for their stocks during the boom to raise capital and finance their activities, Solar panels may be shiny, but they don’t manufacture themselves.

During the brief boom, a very popular financing option for solar companies was issuing convertible bonds. Their stocks were on a tear, so the companies (wisely) decided to give up a bit of their potential stock upside for some cheap (low coupon) financing.

And so they did.

Fast-forward two years later and these convertibles are “busted”. That is, the market price of the underlying stock is so far away from the equivalent conversion price, that the convertible component of the bonds is practically worthless.

Nonetheless, they are still bonds, still pay a coupon and (fingers crossed) will repay principal at maturity. Now trading at discounts to par, the yields are enticing and these bonds have the added attraction in that a good portion of the total yield will come in the form of capital gains, which for many taxpayers implies a lower rate and pushing the taxable event a bit out into the future.

Here’s a table of some of the solar convertibles out there. Like always click to make it bigger.

With the exception of Trina Solar, whose convertible is in the money, the others are pretty much straight bonds now, so the main issue is whether or not they will be able to pay. In general, the prospects of that are not bad, since most of these companies are not excessively leveraged and could tap the markets for equity or new debt when time comes to roll over.

(As always do your own due diligence, and your mileage will vary).

Even Evergreen Solar, which appears to be the most vulnerable on the list, has a positive tangible equity in its books. Of course, ESLR has yet to make a profit, so keep that in mind.

My personal favorite is LDK Solar, which has been reporting profits and whose convertibles have a put provision that can shorten maturity by two years. Trading around 85% makes for a 26% yield in less than a year, if you exercise that put. Not very liquid, but if I managed to find some (and I did), they can’t be that scarce.

Energy Conversion Devices is another that looks “overlooked”. The company took a huge (non-cash) write-off recently, which affected the stock and general perception very unfavorably (some analysts consider their technology outdated). But there are believers and the company recently did some private debt/equity swaps with the convertibles (below the strike price, obviously). Although such an action is dilutive (and not great news) for stockholders, the more of those they do, they better chance bondholders have of collecting ultimately.

Of the others, JA Solar would seem to be the least risky and Suntech Power, the best value.

So, there you have it, a “green” alternative to my previous oily suggestions. May the daystar shine radiantly on your portfolios,

Spill Bonds

It seems the whole planet has been watching the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The world cup may provide a much-needed distraction from that unfolding disaster but in any event, analysts and traders are fast at work trying to find ways to make money in the oily turmoil, without appearing to be too oblivious to the plight of shrimp fishermen and seabirds.

Most of the work has centered on stocks, but like always, there is a bond angle to this also. Let’s “explore” and “drill down” to details.

First: the good guys, those trying to clean up this mess. Clean Harbors (CLH) is a name that comes to mind. Its stock is up over 20% since the spill. Its 2016 bonds, on the other hand, have traded flat. If you’re happy with a 7% yield on a BB- rated bond of a company whose prospects were fine and just got a lot better, there’s an idea for you. Clean and simple. The issue is a bit small ($300 mm), but it does trade (Reg S 144A only for now).

Now. the evil enviro-killers. BP jumps out first, of course, While much has been make of BPs stock slide, its bonds have sold off also. Here’s graph of the yield on BP’s 5.25% , 2013s as an example.

BP is still rated AA- by S&P, although we’d expect a downgrade at some point. In any case, the possibility that this spill will send BP into bankruptcy has to be extremely remote. The highest clean up cost estimate out there is $15 billion, which is huge amount of money. But BP can afford that, the company made $20 billion in profits last year.

At the bottom of this post there’s a list of oil spill bonds including some BP USD issues. BP also has issued bonds in Euros, Yens and Sterling, so the whole world can get clean up on what appears to be a temporary bargain.

BP may be the main target of the “spilling fields” disaster, but not the only one. Transocean (RIG) owns the Deepwater Horizon rig, which is leased to BP. Transocean will probably have a bill to pay in this fiasco too, but they too can afford it.

RIG bonds have been submerging also. Here is the yield on the 5.25%% 2013s. Quite a spike.

And there has been substantial “collateral damage also”. A company like Hornbeck Offshore (HOS), which doesn’t drill itself but operates supply vessels to the rigs has seen its stock and bonds hit. Several clients are reneging on their contracts alleging “force majeure” in the offshore drilling moratorium, but HOS isn’t buying that and is countersuing. The bonds have sold off and there is a nice buying opportunity, since the company’s balance sheet is still quite acceptable.

Then there are cases like McMoran Exploration (MMR) and Energy XXI (EXXI). These companies have operations on and offshore in the Gulf area, but the offshore ops are “shallow water”. Shallow water is a whole different animal when it comes to oil spill risk and the ban has been lifted for shallow water already.