Yet Another Update on My Wife's Junk

Last year I blogged about the junk bond portfolio that my wife put together all by herself (mostly). LINK. I also ran an update on it later in the year. LINK.

This is what that portfolio looked like last time I updated: (click to enlarge)



A few things have happened since. First and foremost, everything went up. A lot. The portfolio gained 45% in 2009 and is up around 5% so far this year. Not that my wife was keeping count. She’s content to just clip coupons. I’m the one doing the counting.

Second there were corporate actions. Starwood Hotels (Sheraton) made a tender offer (accepted) and Jo-Ann Stores called its bonds.

In addition, the Alcoa and Seagate Bonds rose enough in price to trigger the “mortgage” sell signal. That signal basically states that if the bond pays less than our (tax-adjusted) mortgage rate, sell it and either buy something else or pay down the mortgage.

In any case, she decided not to pay down the mortgage, but rather to buy some more junk.
What to buy?

For starters, she selected SmithField Foods, a company I blogged about around Thanksgiving. That’s good because it means she actually reads my blog. When I mentioned that she already had two food companies in Dole and Chiquita, she said “What do Pineapples and Bananas have to do with Turkeys?” OK. Point Taken. Of course, coming from a vegetarian, who knows?

She did take my advice on her next purchase. I thought she could have an energy company in the portfolio, so I showed her several options. There are quite a few smaller oil and gas producers and refiners with bonds in the market at attractive yields. She chose Clayton Williams Energy, an oil and gas company with operations in New Mexico, Texas and Lousiana. Hopefully, for my sake, that well doesn’t come up dry.

Finally, she got motorized with her last two picks. First, Ford Motors, which has been doing much better lately and is benefiting from the troubles that Toyota is having. Ford bonds were huge winners last year, but still could have room to run.
Second, Avis-Budget Rent a Car, which is a highly leveraged situation, but my wife figures if they try harder they’ll pull through.

Here’s what the portfolio looks like now:
Click on the table to enlarge:




It’s a bit junkier, longer in duration and the overall yield is lower.

Only averaging about 7.56% now. But confronted with the alternatives: bank CDs at under 1% or taking her chances on the stock market, she says she’ll stick with her junk for now. She’s happy just to collect the interest. Market crashes? She's like "What me worry?"

That being the case, she should be able to sit tight and just clip coupons for another year and a half until her next bond matures. We’ll see what the world looks like then. Maybe it will be time to pay down the mortgage.

As for the photo. Yes, that is my wife. I married up, I know.

Getting up to speed

I haven’t blogged for a while, so I thought we’d catch up on some things written about over the past year or so.

First, bonds in general. LINK. There is no doubt that corporate debt has been the asset star of the last year or so. While stocks have made their way back and are closing on their high-water marks, most bond portfolios and funds are hitting new highs.

The category is still very much in favor and there is some value still to be found. Don’t get too greedy and you’ll be ok. There are a lot of new issues coming to market both in the developed and emerging markets, so there is quite a bit to choose from. The big gains are over now, its coupon-clipping time.

As for more specific issues, our friend Borat must be happy. LINK. Kazakstan’s sovereign risk is now lower than many Eurozone countries. Not only Greece (duh), but Hungary , Portugal and almost Spain. The fact that Kazakh debt trades better than California’s was widely remarked in the press. LINK.

In Ukraine, things have calmed down. Elections were held in January/February and the pro-Russian candidate Victor Yankovych won a close second-round victory over Yulia Tymoshenko, despite her good looks. LINK. And so the “Orange Revolution” was reversed. Tension between Russia and Ukraine which contributed to the “gas war” between Gazprom and Naftogaz has come down dramatically and there are even talks of joint ventures. LINK. Russia has agreed to give Ukraine a price break on the gas it consumes, while Ukraine will extend Russia’s lease on its Black Sea Naval ports. LINK.
Naftogaz bonds, which defaulted briefly in October (swapped for new issue- LINK) are now trading at 108%. I remember an analyst stating that he “wouldn’t be surprised if the new Naftogaz bonds were trading above par in less than a year”. Oh wait, that was ME.
Isn’t it nice when neighbors get along?

As for corporate issuers: AIG and its subsidiaries are still current with their bonds all of which have rallied sharply. LINK. LINK. LINK. An important “turning point” was reached when airplane-leasing subsidiary ILFC returned to the bond market, thereby reducing the refinancing risk of its outstanding bonds. LINK.

Herrtz quietly dropped the suit against an analyst who had named the company as a possible bankruptcy candidate. They figured out it would only get them bad publicity. Took them a couple of months to figure that out. LINK.

Despite my skepticism, Kodak’s bonds and stock have rallied, as the company raises cash selling or licensing some patents and is trying to raise more by suing the likes of Apple and Research in Motion. I could have held on…oh well. LINK. LINK.

The price of Gold has stagnated, ruining a speculative gold trade I had set up, Sometimes investors DON”T go bananas. Especially when you expect them to. LINK.

Venezuelan bonds have rallied of late, but still yield much more than their credit rating would suggest. What good are the numbers if you can’t believe them? LINK.
Analysts are looking at a $1.5 billion bond maturity in August, as Central Bank reserves drop.

Blockbuster and Netflix continue their lopsided battle. The Hollywood studios have realized that Blockbuster’s survival is in their best interest. How much they will help keep Blockbuster away from bankruptcy remains to be seen. Anyway, the four trades proposed back in February are winners at this point. LINK. LINK.

Now that we’re up to date on these trailing issues, maybe we can move forward and I can get around to blogging more consistently.