Credit Ratings - changes

[Forticus]

Credit Ratings seem to be a common screen for quality among DGI followers.

Recently I found changes ratings, by accident, when I copied a list of data from Fastgraphs to my spreadsheet to my list of candidates. Today I found QCOM downgraded. I didnt find such information on SA nor did I get messages from their system. Also I do not know how to subcribe at S&P for a watchlist. 

agency, date, ticker, new CR, outlook, action

S&P, 03/23/17, WGL, A, negative, down from A+

S&P, 04/26/17, PEP, A+, stable, up from A

S&P, 05/02/17, SHW, BBB, stable, down from A
S&P, 05/03/17, DIS, A+, stable, up from A
S&P, 05/16/17, QCOM, A, stable, down from A+

[Forticus]

ATCO.TO and CU.TO, A-, down from A

[Forticus]

McCormick, MKC, S&P 08/09/17, BBB stable, down from A-

[EricL]

(08-24-2017, 06:08 AM)Forticus Wrote: McCormick, MKC, S&P 08/09/17, BBB stable, down from A-

Knocked down a few notches after their acquisition?

[Forticus]

CAH, S&P 08/11/17, BBB+ stable, down from A-

Quote from https://www.standardandpoors.com/
" ... We lowered the corporate credit rating on Cardinal following its acquisition
of Medtronic's Patient Care, Deep Vein Thrombosis and Nutritional
Insufficiency business because the transaction meaningfully raised leverage.
However, the rating also reflects our expectation that over the next few
years, the company will gradually lower leverage through debt repayment, cash
flow generation, and some EBITDA growth. ... "

(08-24-2017, 08:31 AM)EricL Wrote:

(08-24-2017, 06:08 AM)Forticus Wrote: McCormick, MKC, S&P 08/09/17, BBB stable, down from A-

Knocked down a few notches after their acquisition?

As far as I understand S&P's release, the aquisition size and increased leverage are beyond MKC's previous conservative limits.

"... The downgrade reflects our expectation that McCormick's purchase of RB Foods
for $4.2 billion will close as expected, resulting in a substantial increase
in debt leverage. Although the company has a history of making bolt-on
acquisitions, the proposed RB Foods acquisition is the largest in the
company's history and will result in debt leverage of about 5x, well above the
company's historical level of 2x or below. The increase in debt leverage is a
departure from the company's historically conservative financial policies. ..."

[MarcN]

Moody's: Realty Income, O, up to A3 (from Baa1) Link

(Moody's A3 is equivalent to S&P A-)
Here's a link to a Wikipedia article that has a table of equivalence for the 3 credit rating agencies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bond_credit_rating

Marc

[Forticus]

03.11.17 SBUX S&P CR A- down from A

[Forticus]

18.12.17 DOV S&P CR from A- down to BBB+

quote from S&P page


Dover Corp. is spinning off the upstream energy business within its Dover
Energy segment (wellsite) to create a standalone public company.
Dover will likely receive a $700 million-$800 million dividend from the
transaction, which it will use to fund the bulk of its planned $1 billion
of share repurchases by the end of 2018.
Therefore, we are downgrading Dover Corp. to 'BBB+' from 'A-'.
The stable outlook reflects our belief that Dover's debt leverage and
other credit measures will remain appropriate for the current rating
given the healthy global economy, management's continued cost
improvements, the meaningful proceeds the company will receive from the
spin-off of its upstream energy business, and its financial discipline.