Saturday, November 21st, 2009
Fallen Angels and crossover credits are often targeted by alternative investor groups like hedge funds and risk arbitrageurs who speculate on the mispricing between the various financing instruments of a company.
Characteristics of Fallen Angels:
Tags: Aids finance, Debt, economics, estate, Estate Planning, heir, income, inheritace, insurance, Interest, joit, last will, Market, market cycle, rate, tenancy
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Monday, October 26th, 2009
The correlation between the debt and equity markets’ measures of risk has been extremely strong over the recent years. External shocks, for example the tragic events of September 11, 2001, the LTCM disaster in 1998 or the Asian crisis, have a substantial impact on credit spreads as well as on implied equity volatility. Consider the relationship between implied volatility of call options on Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50, and the spread versus government bonds of the MSCI Euro corporate bond index.
One way of interpreting implied volatility on an equity index is as the compensation that the investors receive for taking on equity risk. The index of credit spreads represents the additional yield investors demand for holding corporate debt over benchmark government debt. While there have at times been brief periods of divergence, these two risk measures typically move together. For example, in 1993/94 banks in the United States cleaned up their balance sheets by writing down nonperforming assets, causing the VIX index, representing the implied volatility of put and call options on the S&P 100, to fall to a historical low just above 10 percent. The decline in implied equity volatility triggered a credit spread rally. Asimilar thing happened in 2002. Average credit spreads collapsed by half, as did optionimplied volatility. So the decline in volatility was a major driver of credit spread tightening. However, one tends to find that when implied volatility falls below a certain threshold the effect of small changes on spreads is rather subdued.
Tags: business, crisis, finances, foreclosure, investments, loans, money advice, money problems, stock, stock exchange
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
The level of implied volatility is a widely used indicator for risk appetite, and, on the individual company level, for the uncertainty related to future earnings. It is also considered a good measure of equity-market risk, because the higher the implied volatility the higher the price of equity options, and thus the higher the cost of insuring against equity-market downturns. Corporate bond spreads reflect the compensation that the investors demand for taking on credit risk. While the debt and equity markets’ estimates of risk, as explained by the Merton model, tend to move together, temporary disconnections do occur. The combination of low levels of implied equity volatility and wide credit spreads suggests the potential for the credit spreads to tighten, as the divergence in the equity and credit market eventually gets corrected. Conversely, when implied equity volatility appears high relative to credit spreads, credit markets are more optimistic about business risks in the corporate sector. The decoupling in the second half of 2003, however, was not an indication that credit spreads were rich relative to implied equity volatility. Rather credit markets were faster to cash in on the reduced risks in the corporate sector because of the massive balance sheet deleveraging, especially in the telecom sector.
Corporate managers were selling off assets, issuing equity and keeping cash for the debtholders, as opposed to using the cash to buy back stock for the first time in 10 years. By the end of the year, equity volatility came down significantly, closing the gap in the assessment of risk.
Tags: foreclosure, loans, mortgage, shares, tax, taxes, tenancy, Tenancy-in-Common, tenant, trade value
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Monday, August 3rd, 2009
That’s good—as a beginning. Now, you need to get into details, by asking a few questions and coining up with solid answers:
Of course, you may want to set ancillary goals in each of these areas. But beware of goals that set department against department, worker against worker. For example, goals for marketing, which are measured in terms of sales, might cause resentment if there are other factors that could affect sales—just as sales goals might not be met because an improvement in efficiency caused a drop in the quality of the products the sales reps are trying to sell.
Tags: benchmark, CEO, economy, sales
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Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Except in the movies, nobody has ever made the leap from start-up to success in one jump. The company needs a well-thought out plan built on steps, strategies, and benchmarks to reach its financial goal.
If your financial goal, for example, is a profit of $12 million, you might decide on the following steps:
Tags: benchmark, CEO, company, economy
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Saturday, August 1st, 2009
Identify the key steps toward the goal. Knowing the steps the company needs to take to reach its goal is as important as identifying the goal itself. Sometimes entrepreneurs trust too much in their enthusiasm and spirit. That may be enough to motivate their employees, but leaders must plan their campaigns.
So, to sum it all up, you should know what you’re doing (your business) and how you’re doing it (your philosophy). You should recognize who else is out there in your way (your competitors) and decide what sets you ahead of them (your major advantages). Then, you determine where you want to go with your business (your goals) and how you intend to get there (your key steps). All of that forms your business strategy.
Tags: business philosophy, competition, entrepreneurs, manufacturers
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
No company can anticipate all contingencies with 100 percent accuracy. This is especially true for operations in start-up mode.
If the company pays cash for its inventory, it won’t be able to restock key products when it comes time. Too many businesses have backed themselves into this corner, suddenly finding themselves with all the wrong merchandise and empty spots on their shelves where their biggest sellers once were because they have run out of cash to pay for the restocking. The next thing to go will be customers and, eventually the business.
Tags: cash crunch, contingency, productivity, profit
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Thursday, July 30th, 2009
That’s good advice for any department head, no matter what the level of financial involvement. R & D managers might find need for additional research into other avenues affecting market or product, making additional expenditures necessary. Sales managers might suddenly be directed to fire several staff, incurring the cost of training and reduced productivity as part of these unanticipated changes. The product developer may find a need for more complex and expensive equipment, may see a sudden increase in the cost of raw materials, or may suddenly face new legislative restrictions on production.
If either of these individuals or companies haven’t made plans to protect their enterprises and reserve against such risks, then the demand for their product won’t really matter, because they won’t have the resources to meet that demand.
Tags: cash flow, productivity, profit, sales
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
First and foremost, cash flow is not the profit you make from sales or the difference between expenses and revenue. Cash flow is the flow of money in and out of a business. That’s all.
Cash is accounted for as an asset, and there are a lot more challenges related to cash flow than accounting provides. Fortunately, there are also solutions, or at least strategies, to maximize the inflow and minimize the outflow.
Keep in mind Maxim 1 of modern business:
Everything a business does takes longer and costs more than managers could possibly anticipate even in their most liberal scenario. Adjust your thinking accordingly.
What is cmhl For the sake of this discussion, consider it the company’s most valuable asset, the one you need to protect with all your might.
Tags: cash flow, profit, sales
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Wednesday, July 29th, 2009
At one point product sales may be brisk and revenues over cost of goods sizable. There is no problem there. Then suddenly demand will pick up and costs will escalate—a by-product of needing more of everything to increase production and keep up with increased demand. Just about that time, a major creditor will run into a snag and will have to slow up payments.
Suddenly the company is caught in a cash crunch—more money is going out than is coming in when it’s needed. Then the company doesn’t have the capital it needs to help meet customer demand. Despite having a highly profitable profile on paper, the company isn’t receiving funds in the timely manner that it needs to pay its bills. Think of it like this: You just ordered a new car because you won $25,000 in the lottery. The dealer wants the money, but the lottery officials just told you that they can’t send the check for three months. Uh-oh.
Cash flow problems happen to all of us from time to time. If you plan sufficiently, you may avoid many of those rapids, but not all.
Tags: bank payment, cash flow, floats, management
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