Altice, CSC under secondary pressure; Rite Aid paper, CDS spreads weak; Transocean up

By Cristal Cody

Tupelo, Miss., Nov. 3 – CSC Holdings LLC’s paper gave back about 5½ points to more than 6 points in busy secondary trading on Thursday, while shares of subsidiary Altice USA, Inc. sank nearly 30%.

CSC’s 5¾% senior notes due 2030 (B3/B) slid more than 5¾ points on more than $10 million of volume, a day after Altice reported soft third-quarter earnings and lower revenue.

Rite Aid Corp.’s 8% senior secured notes due 2026 (B3/CCC-/BB-) saw modest gains on Thursday but remained soft on the week, while the drugstore chain’s credit default swap spreads were more than 350 basis points wider this week.

Market tone remained mostly soft on Thursday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates by another 75 bps in the prior session.

The iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF was down 51 cents, or 0.7%, at $72.41.

Transocean Inc.’s notes were moving about 1 point to more than 2 points higher in steady trading over the day as oil prices saw continued pressure.

The West Texas Intermediate crude oil benchmark futures for December delivery declined $1.83 to settle at $88.17 a barrel.

CSC paper drops

CSC Holdings’ notes gave back about 5½ points to more than 6 points in secondary supply that climbed to more than $30 million on Thursday, a source said.

CSC’s 5¾% senior notes due 2030 (B3/B) slid more than 5¾ points to around 71 bid on $10.8 million of volume by the day’s end.

Altice’s shares closed down 29.07% to $4.44 on Thursday, a day after the company reported third-quarter earnings declined to $85 million from $267 million a year ago and revenue fell 7% to $2.39 billion.

CSC Holdings is the parent company of New York-based cable television, internet and telephone services provider Altice USA.

Rite Aid soft

Rite Aid’s 8% senior secured notes due 2026 (B3/CCC-/BB-) went out about ½ point better at 62¾ bid in mostly light trading on Thursday, a market source said.

The issue has given back more than 3 points since Monday.

Rite Aid’s CDS spreads turned soft over the past week ended Wednesday, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report.

The CDS spreads widened 352 bps to 3,654 bps.

The Camp Hill, Pa.-based drug retailer’s CDS spreads had tightened 413 bps in the previous week after moving out 1,375 bps over the prior three weeks.

Transocean bonds up

Transocean’s 6.8% senior notes due 2038 (C/CCC-) added 2½ points to a quote of 63¾ bid by the day’s end, a market source said.

The issue was active in the distressed space on more than $7 million of paper traded.

The Vernier, Switzerland-based offshore driller’s 7½% senior notes due 2026 (Ca/CCC) also traded 1 point better at 68 bid on lighter secondary supply of $2 million.

Distressed index down

S&P U.S. High Yield Corporate Distressed Bond index one-day returns remained soft over the first two days of November and down from the start of the week.

One-day returns declined on Wednesday to minus 0.18% from minus 0.15% on Tuesday and 0.15% on Monday.

Month-to-date total returns for November fell to minus 0.33% on Wednesday from minus 0.15% on Tuesday.

Year-to-date total returns dropped to minus 25.91% on Wednesday versus minus 25.78% on Tuesday and minus 25.67% on Monday.

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