Community Health explodes; Quorum Health follows; pharma mixed, Valeant, Intelsat up

By Colin Hanner

Chicago, Feb. 21 – With a three-day weekend in the rearview mirror, the distressed market was rekindled on Tuesday, as companies jumped on solid earnings, particularly a hospital group that carried momentum from the previous session.

Franklin, Tenn.-based hospital operator Community Health Systems, Inc. announced its fourth quarter earnings on Tuesday, beating market expectations and lifting several series of distressed issues with it.

“They reported some better numbers, some optimism for 2017, and the bonds were flying,” a trader said.

Community Health-spinoff Quorum Health Corp. rallied off the positive news and were up on just a few trades on the day, a market source said.

In the pharmaceutical sector, trading was mixed, though Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. led with gains in two sets of its notes.

Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals and Concordia International Corp. fell on the day.

With an earnings announcement expected to be on the horizon, satellite telecommunications company Intelsat SA “rallied a bit” in both its Jackson- and Luxembourg-held notes, several traders said.

Murray Energy Corp. was unchanged after posting a gain as a whole last week, iHeartCommunications, Inc. was unchanged in one of its distressed issues and several one-off names, including Neiman Marcus Group, Inc., traded tight on the first session of the shortened week.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.