Morning Commentary: Tech names active; Altas Air trades at 97.4; WPX Energy mandatories on tap

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, July 16 – Tech names dominated trade in U.S. convertibles early Thursday after Intel Corp. posted an upside earnings surprise and as LinkedIn Corp. continued to see trading following upgrade news on Wednesday.

Intel’s 2.95% convertibles traded at 119.3 with the shares up fractionally.

Intel’s earnings and revenue were better than expected as it benefited from growth in its data centers and internet of things businesses, helping to compensate for weak PC demand.

LinkedIn’s 0.5% convertibles due 2019 traded at 103.58 early Thursday, according to Trace data, which was up from 103 bid, 103.125 offered at the end of Wednesday. Shares were up about 0.5%.

Another name in trade early Thursday was Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc.’s 2.25% convertibles, which changed hands at 97.4, or up about 0.125 point. Shares of the Purchase, N.Y.-based outsourced aircraft and aviation operating services company were up about 0.6% at $52.34. The company is expected to post earnings on July 30.

Atlas Air priced $200 million of the 2.25% seven-year convertibles in May.

The market was expecting pricing of the WPX Energy Inc. mandatory after the market close on Thursday.

The Tulsa, Okla.-based natural gas and oil exploration and production company had planned to price $300 million of mandatory convertible preferred shares, together with $1.2 billion of straight notes and 27 million shares of common stock, to help fund its acquisition of RKI Exploration and Production LLC. WPX shares were last down a nickel, or 0.5%, at $10.85.

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