Latest Update 12/18/2023
This is a laundry list of issues I currently own. No recommendations here–just what I own.
Utilities
Entergy Texas Preferred (ETI-) 5.375% Cumulative Preferred
NiSource 6.50% Fixed Rate Reset Preferred (NI-B)
–added to position on 6/13/2023 @ $24.85
–added to position on 8/16/2023 @ 24.70.
Spire Inc. 5.90% Cumulative Preferred (SR-A)
CMS Energy 5.875% Baby Bond (CMSD)
CMS Energy 4.20% Cumulative Preferred (CMS-C)
–sold on 11/3/2023 for $20.01. Held for 13 months – 20% gain (includes dividends received)
Closed End Fund Preferred/Specialty Finance
RiverNorth Capital and Income 5.875% Cumulative Preferred (RMPL-)
–sold entire position 10/23/2023 @ 24.98
RiverNorth Opportunity Fund 6.00% Cumulative Preferred (RIV-A)
–added to position 7/14/2023 @ 22.99
–added to position 7/17/2023 @ 23.06
Tri-Continental 5.00% Cumulative Preferred (TY-P)
XAI Octagon Floating Rate Term Trust 6.5% Term Preferred
–added to position on 6/14/2023 @ $24.85
–added to position on 10/3/2023 @ $24.25 on a GTC execution on a brief selloff
RiverNorth DoubleLine 4.75% Cumulative Preferred (OPP-B)
—added to on a GTC order 9/22/2023 @ $19.50
GAMCO Natural Resources 5.20% Cumulative Preferred (GNT-A)
Eagle Point Income 7.75% Term Preferred – Bought 7/31/2023 @ $24.95
General American Investors 5.95% Perpetual Preferred (GAM-B)
—bought position 12/7/2023 @ $24.47
Insurance
SiriusPoint LTD 8% Resettable Preferred (SPNT-B)
–added shares on 11/9/2023 @25.19
American International Group 5.85% Preferred
Jackson Financial 8.00% Fixed Rate Reset Preferred (JXN-A)
–added a nibble of JXN-A 0n 8/10/2023 @ $24.97
–added to 11/2/2023 @ $24.71.
Lincoln Financial 9% Preferred (LNC-D)
Enstar Group 7% Preferred (ESGRO)
Athene Holdings 4.875% Preferred (ATH-D)
–added shares @ $16.18 on 10/11/2023
WR Berkley 5.70% Baby Bonds (WRB-E)
–added shares @ $21.85 on 10/10/2023
Banking
Customers Bancorp 6% Fixed to Floating (CUBI-F)
Customers Bancorp 5.375% Baby Bond (CUBB)
Heartland Financial 7% Fixed Rate Reset Preferred (HTLFP)
–sold entire position @ $24.40 on 8/8/2023. Gain of 10.2% which includes 2 dividends.
Bridgewater Bank 5.875% Preferred (BWBBP
–added to position 11/17/2023 @ $15.60
–added to position 11/20/2023 @ $15.52
Merchants Bancorp 6% Fixed-to-Floating Preferred (MBINO)
–sold entire position on 8/22/2023 for $21.90. Approx 8-9% gain with dividends.
Associated Bancorp 5.875% Perpetual Fixed Rate Preferred
–sold entire position on 11/2/2023 for a 6% capital gain and 1 dividend–7.5% gain in 5 months.
Enterprise Financial 5.00% Perpetual Fixed Rate
CNB Financial 7.125% Fixed Rate Non Cumulative Preferred (CCNEP)
–bought 1/2 position @ $21.50 on 7/19/2023
–sold entire position @ $22.35 on 8/8/2023
Miscellaneous
Affiliated Managers 5.875% Baby Bonds (MGR) Average cost $22.82
–added shares at $20.59 on 10/10/2023
CHS 6.75% Fixed to Floating Cumulative Preferred (CHSCM)
–added to position on 6/23/2023 @ $24.75
CHS 7.10% Reset Rate Cumulative Preferred (CHSCN)
–initiated new position 11/14/2023 @ $25.30
Liberty Broadband 7% Cumulative Preferred
Apollo Asset Management 6.375% Preferred (AAM-A)
—redeemed 9/22/2023 for $25 plus accrued-held for 4 days less than 1 year. Bot $22.30. Approx 18% gain.
UMH Properties 6.375% Cumulative Preferred (UMH-D)
Hennessy Advisors 4.875% Baby Bonds (HNNAZ)
—added to position on 8/10/2023 @ $22.55
—added to position on 8/16/2023 @ $22.55
—added to position on 8/23/2023 @ $22.25
—sold majority of shares @24.37. Total gain of about 10% which included at least 1 dividend–and for some older shares multiple dividends.
Federal Agricultural Mortgage 5.70% Preferred (AGM-E)
PennyMac 8.50% Senior Notes due 2028 (PMTU)
—Bought a small starter position 12/12/2023 @ $24.98
Gladstone Land 5% Term Preferred (LANDM)
—Bought a starter position 12/13/2023 @ $23.47 YTM of 8%+
—Added to position on a GTC execution @ $23.67 12/18/2023.
Business Development Company’s (BDCs)
Saratoga Investment Company 8.50% Baby Bonds (SAZ) Bought 6/15/2023 $25.15
Capital Southwest 7.75% Baby Bonds (CSWCZ) Bought 6/15/2023 $24.94
CUBI- Many of you seem to own CUBI paper and ran across this write up which mentions CUBI along with some others at risk, FWIW
https://cryptadamus.substack.com/p/the-axos-of-evil?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
A word of caution. If I remember correctly that commenter has been calling for CUBI to go into immediate receivership for the last six months. He might eventually be right, but he’s been wrong for a long time so far.
George–I have 2 small positions which I could exit at any time – nothing obvious to scare a person there, but could a ‘shoe drop’–absolutely.
Tim, I thought you were going to sell the BWBBP or maybe you just lightened up on what you were holding?
Charles—I am looking to sell the small banks and have unloaded many–BWB is one I would like to sell but looking for a little more gain—it has been a disappointment.
Tim,
The Ni-Source preferred is a 5-year reset, right?
Yes resets March 2024….Unrelated thought for anyone else who owns. I had a seamless experience with interest payment of the delisted baby bond SJIJ I bought a couple months ago. Vanguard received and dispersed the quarterly interest payment on time this week per prospectus.
Yes AJ–1st reset in March, 2024—won’t reset again until 2029. If rates hold it would be around 8%. Will they call it? Don’t know but wouldn’t pay over $25.
Tim
It would be great if you could provide a link to the latest version of this page in one of the menus on the home page.
Tim, what led you to sell ARR-C? I believe you owned it last year.
I have positions in 8 of those names, and some 4-5 of the actual issues. Also I am pained with like 10 dogs right now none of which i see here……
I see athene on there……..Apollo, Athene, and Aspen do not currently trade very well. I do hope they all make it!!
Hi Tim, how come you no longer own any Gabelli (GAB) preferreds?
GaryR–I love them but because of the name (Gabelli) they are not paying me enough to hold them–they are all in the mid to higher 5’s and right now I would like to get over 6. I have no problem buying them if there are not other more lucrative options.
Tim; I too own the LBRDP. With its current yield of 7.67% priced at $22.80 it seems like a great bargain. Plus its extremely long protection on any call. What are we missing here???
Chuck P – I think the only reason they are trading where they are is that investors do not understand the company – which as you know is really a holding company for Charter Comm. They focus on the income statement instead of the balance sheet. It is funny that the shares traded very strongly a year or two ago, but now trade kind of weak
THANK YOU Tim; I appreciate your input.
If you search on this site, Tim did a nice write up about Liberty Broadband (last year?) that explains things pretty well.
Another preferred to take a look at is WCCprA at $26.55. Very high probability that this is called in June 2025, two years. YTC about 7.32%.
Was just reviewing WCC-A myself since it just went x-div today. With WCC doing so well and this being a 10.625% coupon that if not called on 6/22/25 will reset for the next 5 years on the 5 year USTreas + 10.325, even describing this as having a “very high probability” of being called on 6/22/25 I would suspect to be an understatement… I’ve owned it since Day 1 almost but do have a stink bid in for more today.
I’ve also owned from day one. Know the company very well, they had to issue this crazy high yield pfd to Anixter shareholders to sweeten their acquisition. Nice to get some 7%+ yield without being in a financial or utility.
The interesting thing about this issue was that it was never priced based on original market demand. It was priced by a formula set in advance that was to make it price at a spread over the highest yielding note to be issued at the time of this financing for the purchase of Anixter. The timing of the acquisition was terrible being June 2020, so they were forced to issue 2 tranches of unexpectedly high priced notes [CUSIP 95081QAN4 and 95081QAP9] and therefore, the preferred got priced accordingly.. So for anyone looking into this now for the first time, no reason to be put off by the original high coupon. It was never an indication of comparable high risk… The original language was:
“The initial annual dividend rate fro the WESCO SEries A preferred stock has not yet been set. The initial annual dividend rate for the WESCO Series A preferred stock, based on the $25,000 liquidation preference per whole share of WESCO Series A preferred stock will be set to equal (i) if no bridge loans have been incurred under WESTCO’s bridge facility, the yield to maturity using the issue price for the longest duration notes to be issued to effect the Merger or (ii) if any bridge loans have been incurred under WESCO’s bridge facility, the highest yield to maturity using the issue price of such debt plus a spread of 325 basis points.” [No bridge loan was used]
It is now $26.42 so if called you get only par $25 plus interest. If not called you get a nice high dividend. Not worth the gamble at this price for me. Will continue to watch. Thank you
Joseph – I was going to start by writing, “you have to……,” but of course you don’t have to do anything re WCC-A. However, the way to look at this is to consider it for what it in all likelihood is, and that is a preferred that WILL be called at its very first call date of 6/22/25. Therefore, consider this to be a fixed income vehicle with a 6/22/25 MATURITY. YES, you ARE going to get $25 in a year and a half for something that you pay $26.42 for today. That’s no gamble that’s a given, but think of the total amount of income you’re going to get on this 10.625% coupon issue over that time. So consider and calculate the Yield To Maturity for it which takes into account the income you achieve AND the principal you’re going to lose. That tells you how you did in the interim. If you were in the market for a 1 1/2 year piece of paper would you be willing to buy a Wesco Int’l Inc. 6.50% preferred with a mandatory redemption date of 6/22/25 if it existed? Would that be enough yield for you? If so, you get the same results buying WCC-A even paying that premium over the call price. Wesco the company is still below investment grade since it is continuing to work down the added leverage they took on to purchase Anixter but they’re doing a fantastic job of delveraging and the acquisition has been an outstanding success with all the trends going in the right direction. So to me WCC-A is pretty fairly priced but no bargain at 26.42. OTH, it only takes a price adjustment down to 26.28 to get you to 7%, YTM for example. $25.92 gets you to 8%, so IMHO, it’s trading pretty darn close to what it ought to be.
Thanks, Tim
Really valuable to see your holdings.
Since posting my holding 6 weeks ago, I’ve been selling risk and buying T-Bills and CD’s.
Those yields are attractive if you think rates are going down from here because of a recession. But what if they keep rising to curb inflation which shows not much sign of slowing?
Bloomberg:
Cost of Being Wrong Gets Bigger by Day in Ever-Diverging Markets
Markets, Boaz Weinstein said this week, are “constantly wrong.” Telling which one is most astray right now has become the big challenge for investors facing conflicting signals across asset classes.
Is it stocks, where an advance previously confined to a handful of tech megacaps showed distinct signs of broadening out this week? A $6 trillion rally hangs in the balance. Or maybe it’s bonds, where emanations of gloom abound and bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts are multiplying in a market where volatility is running twice as high as it was just two years ago.
For investors, the potential penalties for being on the wrong side of the trade — essentially, miscalculating the likelihood of a recession — are getting higher with every leg up in the S&P 500, which this week crossed into bull-market territory. JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts put the cost of mistimed bullishness as high as 20% should equity traders turn out to have misjudged the economy’s path.
“Something has got to give,” said Peter Cecchini, director of research at Axonic Capital. “With equity valuations this stretched in many sectors relative to realistic forecasts for 2023 earnings, we’d bet the give comes from equities.”
The S&P 500 added 0.4% this week to post its fourth straight increase. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 trailed, posting its first decline in seven weeks as money flowed to beaten-down areas like banks and small-caps. A gauge of regional lenders jumped 3%, while the Russell 2000 climbed almost 2%.
Defensively positioned money managers have started warming to the rally. In a poll by the National Association of Active Investment Managers (NAAIM), equity exposure just increased at the fastest pace in more than two years. At 90%, the reading was the highest since November 2021.
For his part, Weinstein, the chief investment officer of Saba Capital Management, says getting too caught up in speculation about the economy is a mistake. “Instead of saying, ‘I think there’ll be a recession or there won’t,’ which I kind of howl at the TV screen when I hear that, I feel like you have to think of ranges of outcomes,” he said, speaking at the Bloomberg Invest event in New York.
That translates into a bet against corporate bonds at Saba, premised on the view that subdued yield spread makes a wager against credit too juicy to pass up. For investors who are increasingly all-in on stocks, however, the perils are increasing.
While the S&P 500 has surged more than 20% from its October low, entering what some consider a bull market, the resilience is at odds with ever-growing warnings from the bond market. Yield curve inversion — a widely watched indicator for an economic recession — has worsened over that stretch as long-dated Treasury rates fell further below short-dated ones.
The divide is illustrated by a model kept by JPMorgan that compares each asset’s market pricing versus its implied value based on macroeconomic factors such as inflation volatility. While bonds have reflected persistent uncertainty since February, the stock market is more sanguine, pricing less risk than before the pandemic.
Should equities echo fixed income in acknowledging the risk over inflation volatility, the S&P 500 would be 20% below its current levels, according to the firm’s strategists including Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou.
Of course, seeking a consistent economic message across assets is often a futile exercise as the economy’s trajectory is not the only thing driving prices. A big force in 2023’s equity rally has been euphoria around artificial intelligence supercharging computer and software shares, with the seven largest tech firms accounting for almost all the S&P 500’s year-to-date gains.
It’s also possible that stock traders, after sending equities into a bear market in 2022 amid mounting fears of a recession, are readjusting their expectations for the timing and magnitude of an economic downturn.
In fact, it’s not unusual to see stocks going up in the face of the bond market’s recessional warnings. Using the yield gap between three-month and 10-year Treasuries as a signpost, a study by Leuthold Group found that since the late 1960s, a trader buying the S&P 500 on the first day of the yield inversion and, with perfect timing, selling at the subsequent high could have made anything from 5% to 23%. Those gains averaged 13% over a holding period of roughly eight months.
This time, the yield inversion happened in November, or seven months ago. Since then, the S&P 500 has climbed 13%, matching the average of the previous post-inversion advances.
Coincidence? Perhaps. But Doug Ramsey, Leuthold’s chief investment officer, considers the market’s latest leg higher as another “pre-recessionary rally.” In his view, while yield inversions have correctly forecast all previous eight recessions, stocks tended to defy initial alarms as investors sought to exploit the last window to profits before the eventual bust.
With small-cap stocks and depressed cyclical shares such as banks rising from the dust of late, many market participants are cheering over the broadening in share participation.
Ramsey is skeptical, warning the market could face “a last gasp for this upswing,” given the Fed’s commitment to its inflation-fighting campaign.
In the previous eight instances of yield inversion, the S&P 500 dropped 35% on average from the interim peak to the final low, his analysis shows.
“When the really beaten-down stuff finally joins in, it’s sometimes a sign the party is about to end,” Ramsey said. “And unlike the endless market celebrations of the last decade, this one lacks a punch bowl,” a reference to stimulative Fed policy.
Helping fuel a revival in small-caps — stocks that are typically more sensitive to economic swings — is optimism that the economy may avoid a severe recession, with the Fed poised to put a brake on its aggressive monetary tightening.
The central bank is expected to pause interest-rate increases next week for the first time in 15 months and leave policy on hold through December, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
To Emily Roland, the co-chief investment strategist of John Hancock Investment Management, investors had better hold the urge to chase gains because the economic outlook remains murky and today’s winners can easily become tomorrow’s losers.
“We are in this pivot party,” she said. “But my analogy in terms of how to play it, maybe you want to sip on a light beer instead of reaching for the tequila because you might have fewer regrets the next morning.”
Westie Mott Capital is calling the market a Bear trap right now, noting the market drops in November and February. Wether we have a soft recession or a hard one who knows. Who knows if we have a 10% or a 30% drop in the market or go up from here. Being in sales and comparing this year to last, sales are slightly down an the crew isn’t working Saturdays so I would say we already are at the start of one how much or less we go is anyone’s guess. Every time it’s different.
Look at the comments in the sandbox about PE and insurance companies. For a hundred years insurance companies have invested in commercial real estate. You have the Trans America in San Francisco and what the metropolitan in NYC? How much debt is held by them? Reading a boat shuttle service in Chicago is still only running weekends with a estimated 50% of workers haven’t come back. Article said more tourists than workers in the downtown.
I don’t think we have seen the last shocks in the market.
The increase in prices of preferreds hasn’t been equal. I have a few that haven’t participated in the run up. I am considering taking a hit or breaking even if I count dividends. My thoughts are if the market does pull back these will pull back even more.
Charles – as seems to always be the case someone is calling rallies ‘bear traps’–kind of like the recession some have been calling for for months (if not years). You are right on uneven gains in preferreds – most have moved nicely higher but a couple of the small bankers have not moved much–I think probably they will do so in time assuming we don’t see any major bank failures.
Thanks for keeping it short and to the point Westie 18.
Great work and thanks for posting this list. Gives me a nice project over the weekend. I am in need of ideas for when some of my current positions get called.
August–you’re welcome. There will be some changes of a minor sort next week as I am considering ‘swapping’ some issue on arbitrage type moves–some I own are no longer (if they ever were) the best issues available from certain companies.
Tim – Thanks for sharing your holdings. I am surprised not to see any BDC’s. Given their capitalization requirements, they might have some appeal to the conservative streak in many of us. I recently picked up a full position in GAINL and am looking at the new offering from Capital South West. Any thoughts (candidates) in this area?
Tim, I agree with Proto123’s buys and also want to thank you for sharing your list of holdings with us. It’s a thoughtful thing to do and very much appreciated.
Wilson–Yes – was think the same.
Proto123–speak of the devil – I was just doing some work on BDCs last night and next week (or whenever it trades) I will be jumping in strongly on the new Capital Southwest issue (baby bond 7.75% coupon) – the best (as measured by coupon and company quality) BDC baby bond to come around in a long time. Likely will be looking for another one (BDC bb) as well.
https://innovativeincomeinvestor.com/bdc-capital-southwest-corporation-price-baby-bonds/
It says they are going to be priced at par which I am assuming the dealers will have to pay. So anyone’s guess what its going to be offered to us common folks?
Charles – It’s a pretty straight forward offering with the underwriters’ discount being the normal 3% as outlined in the prospectus p 30. The price to the public will be $25
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/17313/000001731323000053/ck0000017313-20230608.htm
An underwriting discount of 3.00% per Note will be paid by us. This underwriting discount will also apply to any Notes purchased pursuant to the overallotment option.
The following table shows the total underwriting discount that we are to pay to the underwriters in connection with this offering. The information assumes either no exercise or full exercise by the underwriters of their overallotment option.
Per Note Without Option With Option
Public offering price 100.00 % $ 62,500,000 $ 71,875,000
Underwriting discount 3.00 % $ 1,875,000 $ 2,156,250
Proceeds, before expenses, to us 97.00 % $ 60,625,000 $ 69,718,750
Proto123
Review Tim’s list again. The last two items are BDC’s, and include one you are researching. Thanks.
Thanks Howard – I noticed 🙂
Tim-
It’s funny- I must have been buying with you (?) I have nearly all of these (and more) -either exact ones or a sibling. Most are niblets- still waiting for a market dump.
Gary–will the dump ever come?
I see many more clouds on the horizon than glimmers of light in the tunnel.
Yes.
When… within 6-12 mo is my guess. But, you know what that is worth since it’s free, and am seldom correct on timing !
I was “hoping” to keep many of the new investments I made last Dec when a fire sale happened. One example out of many (just randomly picking COF preferreds) was buying several in the $15 range. Then in a month someone is offering me $19, and hence all investments purchased in Dec were sold by end of Feb. Then in march another fire sale happened, and for example picked them back up at $15. Again, I have already been selling the March pickups. I was hoping to keep long term, and although not a rapid rise, was sitting on large gains.
The fed may not be done raising rates, the inflation #’s have not drastically improved, the market is near all time highs, and … we are operating in a high interest rate environment. The age of free money is over for the time being, and we are going to see what happens when poor companies got 3% loans and now have to operate in 7-10% loans when they turn over. How many companies are going to go under? How long will it take or will we ever get to “free” money again? My desire to hold long term is causing me to look more short term. Some stocks are making nice pattern trading ranges. I do have substantial investments in what I do consider holding long term, but am putting more into short term holdings. This is largely because many people want to buy and hold, but they simply look at the red in their accounts and run into the streets and sell everything.
My portfolio average duration is a little over 4 yrs., I still keep one eye open if we tank from here. Nothing guarantees a bottom. I have lattered my portfolio and have 18% redemption coming up next year. Fingers crossed!
Payday, do you own any preferreds and if so, what duration have you calculated for them? Or are all of your issues bonds/babys?
“When traders become investors…..and Investors become traders!”
I own 7 of those. I will definitely take a look at the others.
9 actually
A fairly good sized chunk of these were really good buys about 3 months ago. Seems everyone was throwing many of these out the window. It was a really great time to buy. I guess they could ride higher. I have started selling this week as the cap gains have been decent. Started investing in some that are over par so that they are pinned, and common stocks – especially the oil and gas area as they have taken a shellacking over the past few months. WES, KMI, etc. I wanted to hold long term, but these are starting to jump back up and so I have started selling them for a quick $2 gain. Seems anything of deep value doesnt stay deep value too long. Need to bump up the quarterly payments to uncle sam.
Mr. Conservative – am hoping to hold many of these long term – but certainly the capital gains off the bottom is fairly enticing, but I think a number of these issues have another 10-20% to the upside.
Tim,
Is there a way I can contact you offfline?
Thanks,
Robert
Robert – you can do an email here.
triple**iexcess@gmail.com
Take out the ** in the middle for the actual email address – auto scrappers will grab it so I canned put it on verbatim.
Hi Tim,
I sent you an email.
Thanks,
Robert
You may want to check out KTH. It’s been available for $28.50 or lower over the past several days.