S&P records 23 rising stars in year to date, 19 potential rising stars

By Angela McDaniels

Tacoma, Wash., Oct. 29 - Standard & Poor's said it upgraded three more issuers to investment grade from speculative grade, bringing the year-to-date tally of rising stars to 23 issuers with rated debt worth $46.7 billion.

S&P defines potential rising stars as entities rated BB+ with either a positive outlook or ratings on CreditWatch with positive implications. The potential rising star tally has risen by two to a total of 19 issuers with $62.3 billion of rated debt. The agency said that by issuer count, this exceeds its average count in the past 12 months by three.

In contrast, the count of potential fallen angels - entities about to cross over in the opposite direction - is 55 issuers with rated debt worth $284.4 billion. This is down from the 18-year record high of 82 in March 2009.

"Despite recent positive developments, we currently expect more credit quality deterioration than improvement," Diane Vazza, head of S&P's global fixed-income research, said in an agency news release. She noted that potential fallen angels maintain their lead over potential rising stars at a ratio of 4 to 1.

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