Iconix Brand convertible bonds steady post-earnings; Whiting Petroleum declines with oil

By Stephanie N. Rotondo

Seattle, March 29 – Iconix Brand Group Inc. dominated the convertible bond market on Tuesday, though overall liquidity remained thin.

“It’s very quiet, as usual,” one trader said. “There are a lot of kids out of school, so a lot of people aren’t even at work.”

As for Iconix’s action, it was spurred by the company’s earnings release on Monday. The results came in below expectations.

Meanwhile, Whiting Petroleum Corp.’s 1.25% convertible notes due 2020 were seen trading at 56.5. That was a loss of 2 points on the day.

“They are just following oil up and down, that’s all,” a trader said.

Surprisingly, Whiting’s equity was up 12 cents, or 1.63%, to $7.46.

For its part, domestic crude oil traded down 2.44% to $38.43 a barrel. That was, however, better than the earlier losses. The modest rebound was attributed in part to remarks made by Janet Yellen, chairman of the Federal Reserve, in which she said the central bank would have to be cautious about future interest rate hikes.

Those remarks were stilted by comments regarding an upcoming meeting of OPEC and non-OPEC producers regarding a production freeze that indicated Iran – which is expected to attend the meeting – might not participate.

Iconix holds steady

Iconix’s 1.5% convertible notes due 2018 were “active on the back of earnings,” a trader said Tuesday.

However, he deemed the notes “pretty much unchanged” in a 64.25 to 65.5 context. The equity was meantime off 74 cents, or 9.09%, at $7.40.

On Monday, the New York City-based apparel company reported a $263 million loss for the fourth quarter. On a per-share basis, that came to a loss of $5.44. On an adjusted basis, the loss was 25 cents per share.

Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were looking for a profit of 27 cents per share.

Revenue was $94.7 million.

For the full year, Iconix posted a loss of $189.3 million, or $3.92 a share. Revenue was $379.2 million.

Iconix also lowered its earnings guidance for the year to $1.15 to $1.30 per share on revenue between $370 million and $390 million.

Mentioned in this article:

Iconix Brand Group Inc. Nasdaq: ICON

Whiting Petroleum Corp. NYSE: WLL

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