GNC trades up on debut; Priceline mostly in line after earnings; Chesapeake, Goodrich off

By Rebecca Melvin

New York, Aug. 5 – GNC Holdings Inc.’s newly priced 1.5% convertibles traded up a little from par on their debut in the secondary market on Wednesday after the Pittsburgh-based wellness retailer priced $250 million of the senior notes at the rich end of coupon talk and the cheap end of premium talk.

The GNC 1.5% convertibles due 2020 ended the session at 100.5 bid, 100.875 offered with the underlying shares of the company about unchanged, a syndicate source said.

Priceline Group Inc.’s trio of convertible bonds were trading actively and looked to be moving up about in line, or flat, relative to the underlying shares of the Norwalk, Conn.-based online-booking service. The company reported second-quarter earnings that beat estimates.

Energy names, on the other hand, were weaker with a few earnings reports in focus. Chesapeake Energy Corp. reported “another difficult quarter,” according to Gimme Credit analyst Philip Adams in a note published Wednesday.

Chesapeake shares slid another 12% on Wednesday and stand at about $7.00 per share, which is less than half where they were in April. Chesapeake’s 2.5% convertibles due 2037 were seen changing hands at 90.5, and the Chesapeake 4.5% convertible preferreds traded off $0.70, or 1.1%, to $64.05.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp.’s 5% convertibles slumped to about 35 from 40 after news of a second-quarter loss that was worse than expected took the underlying shares of the Houston-based oil and gas exploration and development company down 15%.

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