Morning Commentary: Fluidigm sinks on preliminary results; Macquarie Infrastructure debt in play

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, Oct. 13 – With earnings season underway, preliminary third-quarter results have been pushing around convertible bonds this week.

That continued on Thursday as Fluidigm Corp. posted results that failed to excite investors.

A trader said the 2.75% convertible notes due 2034 were trading at 55 at mid-morning, which was down 5 to 6 points outright.

The equity (Nasdaq: FLDM) was off $1.87, or 26.67%, at $5.17.

Late Wednesday, the South San Francisco, Calif.-based maker of biological research equipment said its preliminary results showed a 23% decline in revenue at $22.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted revenue of $29.25 million, which would have been better than the $28.6 million seen in 2015.

Meanwhile, a trader said Macquarie Infrastructure Corp.’s convertible issues – the 2% convertible senior notes due 2023 and the 2.875% convertible notes due 2019 – were “trading against each other” early Thursday.

He said “somebody” bought the 2% convertibles at 99.94, then turned around and sold the 2.875% convertibles at 115.85. Another party then bought the 2.875% notes at 115.125 and sold the 2% convertibles at 100.1.

“That’s a $15.20 debit on one and a $15.91 credit on the other,” he noted.

He was not sure what was moving the paper around, however.

The New York-based company sold $350 million of the 2% convertibles on Oct. 7.

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