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1,488 thoughts on “READER INITIATED ALERTS”

  3. SPMCV is trading. I had to call the trading desk at Schwab and got a fill for 575 shares at $24.60. Caution: Use ALL OR NONE, as each fill on Schwab, no matter how many, each carry $6.95 OTCBB commission until the symbol finalizes as SPMA, so use ALL OR NONE.

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    1. Additionally, if you get an error message while trying to trade SPMCV, “closing transactions only” , this means it is coded for expert market. This ends up happening because most OTCBB preferreds are indeed expert market only, but in this case the IPO starts on OTCBB. So, I had to call Schwab to explain until they finally understood, that expert market preferreds are locked because the parent company is no longer a reporting company, BUT, the parent or common here is SPMC that is A REPORTING ENTITY that is a PUBLICLY TRADED CEF. and that MOREOVER, since SPMCV is the preferred of a CEF, in the prospectus it makes it clear that the preferred is subject to a 200% asset coverage ratio, offering more safety than many preferreds. With this info and satisfied that it is a preferred of a REPORTING ENTITY, they placed the trade for me, but once again, using ALL OR NONE to spare me from possible multiple OTCBB commissions. And again, it took less than 10 minutes to fill all at once for 575 shares at $24.60.

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    2. Now that’s confidence in a less than 5 mo old nano-cap CEF ( ~$338m).
      cefconnect knows almost nothing about them.
      Best of luck.

      Reply

      1. Gary –

        No worries! “Rock solid” investment bank RILY put a $22.50 target on SPMC. The IPO for this CLO equity CEF was at $20 five months ago.

        As we all know these higher yield (14%) CEFs often pay out more than they take in, especially at the beginning of their existence. Only a firm as awful as RILY would imply that the price of this CEF should trade 12.5% above its IPO price. This is a CEF that invests in CLO equity that is adding $50M in leverage (from the 8% preferred) with credit spreads at their lowest levels in a decade. Likely one of the worst times ever to buy CLO equity.

        Of course, RILY was also one of the lead underwriters on the preferred and put the BUY rating out on the CEF two weeks before the preferred deal. My guess is RILY did its usual thing and tried to dump these preferred shares on its remaining wealth management clients (Stifel just bought a portion of RILY’s wealth management biz)- the same marks/chump clients that loaded up on the RILY baby bonds that now trade at 40-50 cents on the dollar.

        “-B. Riley Initiates Sound Point Meridian Capital at Buy With $22.50 Price Target
        06:27:46 AM ET, 10/09/2024 – MT Newswires”

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        2. Papa Doc –
          See my reply to Gary. above As per your post about B Riley being a bookrunner for Sound Point: B Riley also was a bookrunner on recent preferred IPOs OCCIM and EIIA, and a lot of others. Just because B Riley promoted Sound Point and was one of their several bookrunners, does not necessarily mean that Sound Point is partners in crime with B Riley. Nor can you say that just because B Riley recommends them, they must be a bad investment Peace

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      2. Gary – That $338 million will soon rise and is already 2.2X that of OCCI, who similarly invests in CLOs, just as one comparison to one of many micro CLO CEFs. If you read the investor presentation, Sound Point was started in 2008 and yes, went public 5 months ago. They invest in 1,595 CLOs to make for an extremely diversified portfolio, with the largest single obligor exposure at less than 1%, or .61%. The CLO Managers they use are: KKR, Ares, Carlyle, Benefit Street, AGL, and others. Sound Point is much more diversiofied than most CLO investors. You can easily bring up the schedule of investments/CLOs on Edgar. Just because cefconnect has not gone on Edgar and uploaded the freely available schedule of holdings does not mean that cefcoonnect “knows nothing about them” . Again, this preferred of a CEF is subject to 200% asset coverage ratio per the prospectus. Peace.

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          1. I don’t think I’ve ever not made money by getting in early on preferred CEF IPOs with 200% coverage. I’ve bought bigger for SPMCP initially, to make a flip between $24.6 and $25 for some, and plan to keep at least 200. I do agree that the common of SPMC could be subject to share erosion via excess return of capital , and this I have no interest in the common at this time, but the Preferred looks even safer than the term preferreds issued by OCCII, with 200% asset coverage requirement, these should be less volatile than most oreferreds. DYODD

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    1. Thank you Rock. I had some money in new divs that needed a home. Buying AILLN keeps me away from riskier choices that my addled brain might dwell on long enough to purchase.

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    2. Ken –

      There is a publication I follow that did a deep dive this morning into the IVR-B redemption (if anyone is interested). Here it is:

      “This morning a call was announced by Invesco Mortgage Capital (IVR) for their fixed-to-floating share: IVR-B (IVR.PR.B). This is the first among the preferred shares we’re covering, but more calls may follow in the next few months and certainly in 2025.

      Shares of IVR-B will be called effective 12/27/2024, which is the first day they could be called. IVR-B had a spread of 5.18% over 3-month LIBOR (which is defined as 3-month SOFR + 0.26161%). That’s only slightly higher than some of the shares from Annaly Capital Management (NLY) and AGNC Investment Corp. (AGNC).

      I’m a bit surprised about IVR-B being the first call, given that shares would have had only a slightly higher spread than peers with better coverage metrics.

      I’m projecting the total remaining cash payouts to be about $25.00 + $.484375 for dividends. Yesterday shares closed at $24.88. Therefore, I’m projecting buyers at that price (which probably won’t be available this morning) would have a yield to call of about 18% and a worst-cash-to-call of $.604.

      IVR-B was in our “overpriced” category because the IVR preferred shares have dramatically less coverage than the AGNC or NLY preferred shares and only a tiny bit higher yield.

      Investors would probably be interested in bidding below about $25.10. That would give them an annualized yield to call of about 11.25%.

      By $25.20, I would favor taking the cash. That’s an 8.2% annualized yield to call.

      By $25.30, I believe investors should absolutely take the money and run. That would put the annualized yield to call around 5.22%.

      Note: Investors sitting on a short-term capital gain that would become a long-term capital gain by holding until 12/27/2024 would almost certainly want to sit on their hands and wait for the call. This is not tax advice.

      When a call like this is announced, the company is not actually legally forced to execute the call as announced. It is still possible for them to back out. Consequently, investors should demand yields higher than bond yields. This was seen during the pandemic. MFA Financial (MFA) had announced a call shortly prior to the pandemic, but backed out of it to protect their common shareholders. At that point, MFA simply couldn’t afford to give up that cash. That’s part of why investors should still see some risk here.

      At the $25.25 bid, the yield to call is 6.7% (assuming I’m right on the cash flows). That’s a pretty good bid.

      If investors can get higher prices, as we’ve seen on all executions so far, the yield actually goes lower. Therefore, I believe investors who own these share should be playing with limit-sell orders to take their gains and walk away. Especially if they are able to get someone to pay $25.30 or above. The 5.22% yield to call is only slightly better than what the investor gets for sitting in Treasury bills.

      Given the way people are with round numbers, I would be more inclined to fish for buyers at $25.29 than $25.30.

      Congratulations to any investors still holding these shares. They’ve achieved the rare case of a call being announced while shares are still trading at a slight discount to call value. Why isn’t IVR just repurchasing all these shares? Low liquidity.

      One last note. This may have a negative impact on prices for other shares with a negative yield-to-call. Since many of those shares had superior spreads for lower risk, this call may make investors wary of the risk that their shares could also be called.”

      Reply

  6. WEST READING, Pa.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Customers Bancorp, Inc.(CUBI) announced that the Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend on its Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series E of $0.65395191 per share. The dividend is payable on December 16, 2024, to shareholders of record on November 30, 2024.

    The Board of Directors has also declared a quarterly cash dividend on its Fixed-to-Floating Rate Non-Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock, Series F of $0.63006441 per share. The dividend is payable on December 16, 2024, to shareholders of record on November 30, 2024.

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    1. Newtek Business Services Corp. (Nasdaq: NEWT) announces a share repurchase program. Under the program, the company will repurchase up to 1,000,000 shares.
      The repurchase program will be valid for 12 months.

      Reply

    1. When a CEO who made a major investment in (now bankrupt) Franchise Group (among other disastrous moves) writes: “We have demonstrated that the assets on our balance sheet are stronger than the market might suggest” it’s hard to ascribe any credibility to his statements.

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    2. “Unfortunately, the investment was devastated by the precipitous decline in consumer spending in the markets served by the FRG brands, and the fallout and uncertainty from the Prophecy scandal and the related federal investigation into Brian Kahn. These headwinds changed the economics of the investment and the timetable for executing on FRG’s strategy, including the potential monetization of assets, in a way that could not have been anticipated.”

      – FRG is closing its troubled furniture unit as part of its bankruptcy. Was this problem foreseeable or just the result of changing consumer preferences? The furniture problem at FRG was known and admitted before the acquisition. I recall FRG’s CEO admitting the unsold furniture problem was his fault. How could anyone doing Due Diligence miss a known issue? (Well okay, Big Lots couldn’t figure out furniture wasn’t selling either. )

      – Riley claims to be unaware of / surprised by the Kahn legal issues. It didn’t take me long to find a local business journal, dated before the SEC news came out, reporting that Kahn was in private litigation with dissatisfied local investors. (It surprised me that a big CEO had an investment advisory side gig like that. ) IMHO, due diligence should have included 5 or 10 minutes on Google.

      No gripes with B Riley, Kahn or Franchise Group personally. During my ownership period they did well by me. Its just that I have trouble believing their PR cover stories right now. JMO. DYODD.

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    1. Doesn’t matter Fred. No way to take advantage of this information.
      I’m being locked out or restricted, whatever you want to call it by Fidelity.
      15 min ago it showed 2 bids and now shows 200 plus. How is it you can have all these bids show up and Fidelity is blocking mine?
      If this was a situation where there was limits on a sell and the market was telling you there is a large move to exit a position, I would hold Fidelity responsible for my losses.
      That is the other side of the coin you might want to consider.

      Reply

      1. Charles M-
        Strange- I have a small amount bot 7/2020 for 32.60 cost and no problem selling or attempting a buy. It is concerning that it seems hit & miss on orders.
        Think I’ll hang-on for now– that 64.98 conversion price sounds good & doable.

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    2. I am just doing some napkin math and 62 is not that appealing. 64 would be more interesting as that would be the forced conversion value. At 62 that is a yield of 5.85% for a preferred I have to pay zero attention to. I think I would want closer to PSA preferred pricing. Not exactly what they sell for currently but slightly above to make me jump at it. Thus 64 would get me right into that ball park and also make me content that I got the full conversion value if I was forced down that path and immediately sold.

      If I accepted the tender offer I would want a REIT replacement that is BBB or better with the same or higher current yield. Not exactly easy right now. FRT and PSA come to mind for me as possible replacements.

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    3. Fred, just my humble opinion on most of the these tender offers, good for the company, so probably not the best for the investor. There are times where I have taken it, but for this one I don’t think I will.

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    4. If you read the whole press release, they are taking a carrot and stick approach, where if you don’t take the $62 tender they will try to make the issue callable @ $60.34. I can’t imagine why anyone would vote for that, but I also don’t know why they would propose it if they didn’t have the votes. Confusing.

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      1. Well good luck to them trying to change the terms. I imagine it would take 180 days OR longer for them to get that all organized. During that time we would likely get 2 or more dividends which is approx 1.80 or more and when you add 60.34 to it we would come out ahead anyway. I doubt they could swing that all in a short period of time. Not much of a stick. I will call their bluff.

        Plus I do not have a 1000+ shares of this. So it is easier for me to just ignore it. Not a ton of money riding on this decision. I bought these shares as RPT-D when it was way below par which makes this a wonderful problem to have and discuss.

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        1. fc –

          “I will call their bluff.”

          Same here. KIM is clearly one of the best in class retail REITs, and I believe will eventually trade to $28.30 (KIM can force conversion of KIM-N if common stays at $28.30+ for 20/30 trading days.)

          So with a conversion rate of 2.2963, I’ll tender if KIM offers $65 for KIM-N, with KIM common at $24.12 today.

          I expect them to get very few tenders as of 12/4/24, and then a re-up of their offer to $64.

          KIM’s veiled “threat” to change the rules and redeem it at $60.34 next year is laughable. Not even the dumbest of retail owners would vote for that.

          I think I would have respected the company more if they just pulled a Blackstone and threatened to delist it (I’m sure they checked on this and are prevented from doing so while the company is publicly traded).

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  9. Franchise Group–which you may remember had a management buyout financed in part by B. Riley (RILY)–declared bankruptcy last night.

    RILY is writing down another $120MM on their investment.

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  10. GTLS.PRB is in an interesting situation after GTLS reported good results, stock now at $130ish, and it looks like that may continue going up. “QOL”- The conversion settlement rate will be 0.3526 shares per depositary share if the then current market price is equal to or greater than $141.81048 and 0.4231 shares per depositary share if the market price is equal to or less than $118.1754.
    I may sell soon at near cap value, as I think there is a good chance these will cap. FYI if you hold here. Also, might look at GTLS – with backlog on these projects economic swings are just that and GTLS would come out of it (I think) better than most.

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    1. got my $55.50 today. Not sure why these are pricing up so high with the cap limit and the 7%. At the price now chase higher payers or the common.

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  11. Bond Vigilantes & 10yr T…???

    * 10yr T yield up another 10bp on Friday to 4.386%
    * 10yr T yield up 74bp since Sept FED rate cut
    * Are the Bond Vigilantes beginning to finally protest (sell) as they foresee growing US debt (38.5T) & unchecked federal spending (>2T annual deficits) getting worse under the next US administration???

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  12. New $1k issue at Schwab from JPM. Highest recent coupon from A rated bank.
    48130CUV5 5.75% 2044, call 11/14/2026 (2 years), pays annually (ugh!)

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  13. For benefit of all III’ers

    @ Fido

    6.125%
    mat 11.4.54
    FHLB
    AA+
    next call 2.4.25 (There is a schedule of dates for calls)
    new issue
    @par
    cusip 3130B3KN2

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    1. Its like buying a 3 month CD. As Powell resumes his lowering of rates all these type will get called.

      Reply

  14. Top notch (Sarcasm) REIT OPI released earnings on 10/30. OPINL 6.375% senior notes maturing 6/23/2050 did not respond well, down 2.32 (-16.3%) to close at 11.87. Interesting comment in their earnings release:
    **********************************************************
    As of October 30, 2024, OPI’s total available liquidity was comprised of $146.4 million of cash. OPI’s $456.7 million of unsecured senior notes are due on February 1, 2025.
    . . .
    Given the limited resources available to OPI to obtain debt or equity to refinance this debt, the illiquid nature of real estate assets and OPI’s ability to incur additional debt while maintaining compliance with debt covenants, OPI has concluded that there is substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern for at least one year.

    *********************************************************
    We have no positions long/short in any account.

    Link to earnings release:
    https://s22.q4cdn.com/479231927/files/doc_financials/2024/q3/OPI_09-30-24_Earnings-Presentation.pdf

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  15. 10yr T – Post September Rate Cut

    * 65bp increase
    * 4.33% intraday high today
    * 4.3% current
    * US national debt now 35.8T with
    federal deficits exceeding 2T annually.

    Reply

  16. Sometimes a company / investors can’t win: KIM reported today
    Beat of FFO, Beat on revenue, raised guidance for ’24 FFO, and… raised the div 4.2%, So ?
    Stock is down a little…huh? Must have been some really high expectations based on something, or nothing.
    No, I didn’t read the report and don’t own the common.

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  17. RMPL- RiverNorth Cap and Income Pref redeemed this morning. Fidelity paid only $10.00 per share into account not the $25.00 face value. A call with them is pending.

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        1. well this is weird. My redemption for RMPL- disappeared from my activity log, and is now restored into my ‘Positions’ at 25.29.

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          1. Fidelity said they won’t trade the position for the cash until they have the cash in hand. He said it should be resolved by Tuesday AM. If not, give them ‘
            another call.

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            1. Do other people want to call RiverNorth and ask them what happened to the payment? The number is 312-832-1440. Then press #1.

              They told me yesterday it was sent out; now Fidelity says they didn’t receive it, and it’s unusual.

              But a lawsuit wouldn’t be unusual in this situation.

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              1. James, if you have been on here for a while and followed comments this happens all the time. I am no expert, as I can’t remember the name of the transfer company but there is an intermediary these payments go through and it can take several days for this to happen.

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                1. Hi Charles–Yes, the payments go through DST, but Fidelity now says they don’t have the funds and that it’s unusual. RiverNorth told me they sent the funds, although the CUSIP number they had left off the final number. (76882B20 vs. Fidelity’s 76882B207.) For some reason, brokerage houses won’t pick up the phone and talk to anyone at any of these financial firms. RiverNorth said it hadn’t heard about the $10 vs. $25 payout mixup until I called, and they said I was the only one they’d heard from. So it might be worth it if someone else called to get clarification.

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                  2. Got the correct amount ($25 per share + accrued interest) into the Fidelity account today.

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              2. Lawyer here. A lawsuit would be VERY unusual.
                For one thing, your beef is with Fidelity, not the company.
                And #2, about 5 seconds after you sue Fidelity, Fidelity gets the lawsuit dismissed because you agreed to arbitration.
                This happens all the time and is usually resolved in a day or two, though occasionally these situations can go on for weeks.

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                1. Justin, can you tell this isn’t one of the things I get excited about? Funny I get more excited about someone trying to cut in front of me in rush hour traffic. Go figure.
                  Just sold all my wife’s SCE-PH in her IRA now to figure out what to replace it with.

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    3. RiverNorth confirmed it’s a $25 redemption. They have another new preferred that is a $10 redemption, so something must have gotten mixed up. They’re going to try and reach out to an intermediary that will contact Fidelity.

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    4. Called both Fidelity and Rivernorth. Fidelity confirmed the $10 redemption was a mistake. They said there will be a fix within the next few days. The redemption is $25.31, with accrued dividends.

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      1. After hours I did receive the corrected redemption amount of $25.00. However, no entry yet on the $0.31 per share.

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        2. And in a mysterious position on RMPL- at Schwab…. No payment posted but position has disappeared from my Positions on website but shows as still there on TOS

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          1. Schwab renames things the day they get called, and lists it in the positions under “fixed income” by a number until it gets paid. But they’re getting slower and slower about posting redemptions-my Pxsap a few weeks ago took 2 days past the redemption date to finally get redeemed. Merrill also has not posted its redemption for Rmpl- yet.

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            1. It seems schwab will do anything to get to hold your money (and not pay interest on it) for a day (or 2 or 3).

              Also seeing more and more dividends/interest payments being made at market close/just after market close, presumably for the same reason (so you can’t put them in a MM fund). They said a while back that they were changing their process to drop more divi’s during the trading day, but I don’t see very many.

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    5. I did speak with Fidelity this morning. The $10 per share is just a place holder put there by Fidelity. They have not received the redemption money from Rivernorth yet. When the money arrives, the ten bucks will be replaced with the correct payment.

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      1. The Fidelity rep I spoke with said it was a mistake. RiverNorth said it sent the full amount of money. Although as long as it comes through, it doesn’t really matter.

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        1. Legend….
          Agreed. Makes one wonder how in the world an error like this can occur at these huge firms. Who checks and verifies these transactions before they are finalized???

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  18. Any ideas what is going on with Enstar preferreds?

    They filed an 8-K today and Esgro was up .71 on 3X volume and closed on it’s high.

    I’m not qualified to make out the significance of the report.
    Any insight would be appreciated.

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    1. Don’t know but my guesses are —
      – Dividend news in a few days. Dividend arbitrage on an 8.2% issue.
      – The chance of successful court challenges or delays could push the value of the preferred back up towards 25. Seems like 3 lawsuits out there. Litigation arbitrage.
      – Have not read the complaints, but the Bermuda claim is an interesting wrinkle. Financial stuff, always debatable by experts in mergers, Possible legal errors in interpreting non-US law – easier to point to, IMHO.
      – Some of the secret financial? stuff hidden from the public by the cryptic SEC Confidentiality Order might now get revealed during litigation.

      Long ESGRO. JMO. DYODD.

      Reply

  20. Three 2044 agencies at Schwab this morning with coupons 5.7x trading a hair above par, call protection to
    Aug 8 3130B3GJ6
    Oct 28 3133ERYX3
    Nov 7 3130B3HM8

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    1. Maine, Doesn’t this make the 2031 note very enticing at more than 8%?
      My back of the envelope calc on the tender is a YTM of about 7.25.
      Is that correct?

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    2. I have a ton of this I will need to redeploy the cash from.

      Lots of things getting called away or coming due. Next year will be difficult to position for.

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      1. *Sigh*
        I have a boatload of SCE-H too.
        I had been parking a lot of money in it for about a year as things have been redeemed/called/etc..
        I knew it was going to be called, but not looking forward to having to redeploy so much cash.

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    3. The SCE-H redemption is before the next ex-date in Dec. When do you have to be an owner of record in order to receive the 42.7 cents (which seems too low)? Currently trading at 25.29-25.30.

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        1. Irish-
          It’s 75 days from Sep 15 (last pay date) to Nov 28. At what coupon does 42.7 cents make sense for that period? I did the calculation. It makes sense. So, why isn’t SCE-H trading at 25.43 instead of 25.30? Is there a dime on the sidewalk?

          And my real question, when do you have to be an owner of record in order to receive the 42.7 cents?

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          1. You just have to own it at redemption. The redemption price is essentially 25.42. It’s trading at less because there’s still a month left. I bought at 25.29 this morning expecting a holding annualized gain of 6.4 (approx .5% for the month.

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          2. r2s, I think as long as you own it before the redemption date, you should qualify for the full payout. There is no ex date to contend with since the redemption is prior to the next ex date.
            As of today, there’s about $.27 accrued so far, so $25.30 seems about right. I would assume it will climb a few more cents as redemption day approaches.
            There are certainly others on here that are vastly smarter in these areas, so don’t just take my word for it.

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          3. r2s – ask yourself whether you would pay someone $427 to get the $427 he has coming to him a month from now…….. I suspect you’d prefer to let your $427 continue to sit in a money market fund earning, say, 4.50% where in 75 days you will have earned approx $4.03. But what if you could earn $5.67 instead of $4.03 while assuming essentially the identical amount of risk? Would you be willing to take those MM funds out for the extra few pennies? That’s why SCE-H is trading at 25.30 instead of 25.42. Don’t quote my numbers exactly because I think I used 25.29 instead of 25.307 to come up with this illustration….that’s where I bot today… yup, another boring yawn of yawns picking up pennies trade… I think the YTC is about 6.33%

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            1. 2wr, Mark, Irish, r2s:

              Speaking of picking up pennies, I believe the Oct 24 8-K filing on the SITC-A full call leaves some room open for them to not call it.
              https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/894315/000095017024117045/sitc-20241024.htm

              They stated they INTEND to redeem it, and are “… undertaking actions to redeem all of the …” shares “on or about November 26, 2024 (the “Redemption Date”).”

              Today I got Fido’s notice on SCE-H, but I haven’t got the notice for SITC-A yet. My guess is they haven’t yet sent notice to record holders.

              I started buying it on Oct 25 but I’m considering selling my shares for a penny or two gain if I can. If the call doesn’t happen, it could fall to where it traded (24.15) right before they filed the 8-K. I only bought it to pick up pennies.

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              1. I did notice that language but I considered it to be a belts and suspenders kind of phrasing, not overly concerning…. I’ve seen similar language and can’t think of one that didn’t come thru on time other than whichever that recent one was that initially published a call for about days before maturity and then ended up having them mature instead…. I could be wrong, but would suspect if anything it’s not at risk of not being called but perhaps not happening exactly on Thanksgiving Day…. any change will include added accumulated. And isn’t the coupon rate something like 8.18%? It’ll come down if it remains outstanding but still not all that bad even though I have avoided CA utilities by design….

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                1. Thanks, 2wr.

                  RMPL.PR was one I remember:
                  “The anticipated redemption date is October 4, 2024 (the “Redemption Date”), but the redemption may be effected on a subsequent date no later than the mandatory redemption date of October 31, 2024, due to changes in market conditions or otherwise as determined by the Fund.”

                  On the notice to redeem, I was referring to SITC-A. I think you were referring to SCE-H, the CA ute. I already got the notice from Fido on SCE-H.

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                  1. Sorry – trying to do too much at the same time and respond when I really should be on here with too much other stuff going on

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                    2. “YOU’RE” posts are always welcome?
                      Been a while since I misspelled “your” as “you’re”!

                2. Its worded that way so that if something out of the blue happened that prevented it from being redeemed, investors couldn’t cry “fraud”.

                  The price for living in a litigious society.

                  Kind of like the warning Husqvarna supposedly put on chain saws “Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or genitals.” (My Husqy is so old I don’t think it even has any warnings).

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  24. Hey Charles
    BAAPV
    There’s a REAL challenge falling knife
    Too much challenge for me

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    1. Westie, that one doesn’t come up on Yahoo finance when I looked it up
      Not buying much of anything right now.
      Last buy was ESGR at 322 and change.
      And yes I voted to sell.

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        2. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even buy these things anymore. With that short call its like the cat chasing his own tail.

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  26. Good news for the RILY baby bonds today, especially for RILYM and RILYK. They sold some of their brands businesses for $236 million.

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    1. Yeah, not understanding why rilym is still trading down at 23.8 when they have the cash and they’re supposed to redeem 80% or so of it a month from now. Hopefully they announce that call tomorrow?

      Reply

      1. I took profits at this 23 level since I hopped in the mid teens. This is a good place to take profits versus continuing uncertainty to pick up another $1.20.

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  27. Any thoughts on Boeings Mandatory Convertible Preferred Stock?

    Looks like a 3 years debt instrument yielding 6%.

    I think Boeing is one of those too big to fail companies.
    However, if things go south preferred stockholders will be thrown to the waste side.

    Reply

    2. With mandatory convertibles, you are paying for your distributions upfront and distributions are your model until they convert. I would only do this if you are bullish on Boeing longer term since you will get converted to common shares at that point and you switch from an income to growth model.

      Some argue if you like the stock to bypass and just buy the common, but if you are looking to purchase a qualified distribution until it converts and you’re bullish, then this is a consideration.

      Reply

  29. FYI. Last week, Seeking Alpha was letting me read articles for free when using a private or incognito window. This morning in my private window, I see they blocked articles unless you “open a free account”. So I tried a regular window, and SA is back to allowing articles to be read. For how long, I can’t say.

    I wondered how they were going to attract subscribers if they blocked all articles on the site. Maybe they started wondering, too?

    Yes, I am too cheap to pay for SA!

    Reply

    1. No, you are not cheap. It has become a silly site, even news got blocked unless you pay for it. Much of the news are from other sources.

      Reply

  30. I had been following this one Ute NWN that Pig Pile and Bea have been in and out of the last couple years thinking there might be an opportunity. But today this showed up in the news.
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/officials-target-utility-company-in-50-billion-lawsuit-over-long-standing-harmful-practice-historic-and-ongoing-deception-campaigns/ar-AA1t09Sl?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=fce2afde84a64e0685696493e6e664e7&ei=28
    I remember the Eco terrorists of the 70’s and 80’s who used tactics like spiking trees and destroying logging equipment. Seems they have gotten more sophisticated and are using the courts now.
    Don’t take what I am saying wrong. I went to college in Redwood country and saw first hand the devastation clear cutting caused. Select harvesting is less profitable but better.
    There has to be better ways to move away from Carbon usage. I think offering a carrot instead of threatening with a stick works better.

    Reply

    1. Interesting Charles/ re NWN I don’t see this going anywhere in the Federal courts, a simple argument against it I would use is all the pollution from China blows right across the Pacific into the West Coast. So who is to blame! but you make a good point about the eco’s coming out w things, on their own to keep investor interest and investment by funds/pension co’s etc. companies like Northwest are already doing things too. RNG, Hydrogen, buying carbon credits etc. So from a ‘reader alert’ macro perspective, I don’t see this getting anywhere. A counter suit strategy has been evolving in these cases as frivolous, costing damages and atty fees to the filers!

      The company is a dividend ‘king’ w 69yrs of div increases, just increased. a joke .488q to .49/q… the thing is will weather help them as a NG ute. The growing water division is a hidden asset here within the structure. La Nina may help this year on cash flow, supposedly colder in PacNW, Canada, Northern Midwest.. but I guess we’ll see. No position although looking at SPAXX my FIDO sweep down to 4.49% and my little Discover h/y savings down to 4% again, 4.9% on a qualified ute div might not be bad. Getting rate increases has been an issue I believe too. 2mil customers in OR and SW WA for NG, some renewables Growth in ng cust addons slowing, but also capex is expected to normalize lower, OR hitting their rate requests.. potential for blending of ng and hydrogen I think they were testing that a few years ago.
      Well this is ‘devolving’ into a Common Stock category discussion but it is interesting hadn’t looked at it for a while, earnings is 11/12 see what they say, put it on watch. I always thot it would be a good tuckin for Buffett’s ute company and he could bid $48-50 for it, get it, be accretive, sell the the water division to a water ute giant…Bea

      https://s23.q4cdn.com/611156738/files/doc_presentations/2024/Oct/09/oct-2024-investor-presentation_final_.pdf

      Reply

      1. Bea, The news articles are misleading. This is filed as a state court case. It is not a federal court case. (An attempt to remove it to Fed Ct reportedly failed in June 2024.) The complaint was not filed by the state of Oregon. It was filed by Multnomah County. A jury trial was requested, which creates risk for NWN. This is not a new case: its an amendment of an existing one to add NWN.

        The complaint makes interesting reading. It is on-line. The County is not complaining that climate change caused the damaging June 2021 heat wave. It is complaining that it was mislead about climate change for many years so it could not prepare. There are some rebuttals to this.

        1 – One can argue that climate change was a known issue by 2021, so any loss was a result of the County’s negligent failure to prepare. 2- NWN, unlike Exxon, is public utility regulated by the State of Oregon. Oregon could simply have shut down gas service to NWN’s 2 million customers but they didn’t. (FWIW, there was a mini citizen revolt when one city tried to curtail new NG lines.) 3 – As you correctly noted, the prevailing winds off the Pacific are from west to east, away from Portland. Then the Coastal Range scrapes the air. 4 – Its hard to prove a single event in June 2021 was caused by years of incorrect information by multiple parties. I don’t see this as an easy case for the County to win.

        I like to shop for utes on bad news. NWN is now on my watch list. Likewise silent DUK which suffered massive storm damages. Pundits say it’s already priced in. The stock is up post hurricane. DUK is expected to report Nov 7. xD Nov 15. JMO. DYODD.

        Reply

        1. Bear, Why I posted here. Might be an opportunity to catch a drop. Watch SA to see if the news shows up there and the uninformed panic.
          I am not going to post over there and get accused of manipulating a stock. I’ll leave that up to the HDO crowd.

          Reply

          1. Charles, appreciate your post. Bad news and a sell-off can offer the opportunity to buy good utes at a discount. Value investing: it’s like shopping at Kohls. Find what you like. Be patient. Wait for the 20% off coupon.

            My first try: When the scary hidden details of Detroit nuke melt down hit the Detroit News and The Free Press, Detroit Edison tax exempt bonds could be had at 15%. Pepco (Exelon) always got beaten up during windstorms. Southern Co had construction delays with nukes. Portland General wildfires. Centerpoint an angry governor. Dominion wind power. etc

            JMO. DYODD.

            Reply

          2. Careful Charles, wouldn’t want Kaptain Lou to make his midnight calls to IRS to start “clawing back” your gains.

            Reply

    2. Do any of you hold or have a view on gnma passthroughs, These are federally insured and are comparable to long term bonds although they could be repaid early. Also are these passthroughs often traded in less than full unit amounts as a full unit is 100,000 dollars. Appreciate any insights. tia SC

      Reply

      1. I currently have several groupings of gnma bonds (ginnie maes) with varying long term maturity rates in IRAs. I have acquired these first thru Edward Jones guy many years ago and lately I purchased them myself using Schwab online. I have had 2 of the groupings for many years and have used them as a very long term interest bearing investment that will most likely be passed on to my kids – if some principal remains. The groupings I currently have are mostly paying 5.5-6%. The risk is that the monthly pmts I receive usually carry an interest piece and a principal piece. The principal piece reduces the amount on which I receive interest. I just keep track of how much principal remains. Every month the calculation has been exactly as I have calculated. In my experience as mortgage rates fall, the people actually making the mortgage pmt either are refinancing or making addl mortgage payments because more principal is returned to me. I have one of $17k that has had no principal returned yet. I have also found that even for the groupings that are not to mature for 30 years, they are getting paid off much quicker. A couple I have had since the 2000s that were not due until the 2030s are nearly paid off. Since these are very long term I have been satisfied with the 5.5 and 6% returns. And I dont even worry about trying to get a capital gain. I assume these groupings can be sold but am not sure. It does seem likely that to do so might require a call to Schwab fixed income or at least requesting a bid using the online system. Using the Schwab research tool each ginnie mae, freddie mac, or fannie mae shows a guess at how quickly the principal will be paid off.

        Reply

        2. In addition, on the Schwab site, ginnie maes, freddie macs, and fannie maes can be traded at varying amounts. For example an offering can be listed at 25k but have a factor listed as .45554. I think this factor is used to calculate the remaining principal of the intitial offering. So the actual value of this grouping would be 25k times .4554 for a bond of 11,385. Then depending on the market, it could trade at a discount or premium – most likely a premium right now because 10 yr treasuries are around 4.25%.

          Reply

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