S&P 500
7,226.20
+0.01%
Dow Jones
49,494.60
-0.62%
Nasdaq 100
27,685.40
+0.66%
Russell 2000
2,804.78
-0.02%
FTSE 100
10,364.50
0.00%
Nikkei 225
59,260.50
-0.78%

Investing

Sirius XM Catches S&P Upgrade (SIRI)

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Published
Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google
This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

SIRIUS LogoSirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) has caught a debt upgrade from Standard & Poor’s.  The cited reasons were that the liquidity position has improved after debt refinancings, and also that its EBITDA is improving.
Based on the new issue of $250 million of senior secured notes, S&P has raised its corporate credit rating on the company to ‘B-‘ from ‘CCC+’ today.  It was given a recovery rating of ‘1’ and its outlook is stable.  Among other positive mentions were manageable near-term debt maturities, likely operating performance improvements, and cost savings.

S&P revised the recovery rating on Sirius XM’s senior unsecured and subordinated debt to ‘5’, indicating a modest expectation of 10% to 30% for a debtholder recovery in the event of a payment default.  The issue-level rating was raised one notch on this debt to ‘CCC+’ from ‘CCC-‘ over an increased estimate of enterprise value.

S&P assigned the proposed $250 million senior secured notes due 2015 a rating of ‘B+’ and assigned the notes a recovery rating of ‘1’ over very high chances of 90% to 100% recovery for noteholders in the event of a payment default.

JON C. OGG
AUGUST 13, 2009

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

Featured Reads

Our top personal finance-related articles today. Your wallet will thank you later.

Fed’s Rate Freeze Could Sting for Social Security Recipients
Maurie Backman |

Fed’s Rate Freeze Could Sting for Social Security Recipients
'Convert $100,000 a Year to Get Them to the Top of the 22%': The Roth Plan for a Couple With $2.3M in 401(k)s
Jeremy Phillips |

'Convert $100,000 a Year to Get Them to the Top of the 22%': The Roth Plan for a Couple With $2.3M in 401(k)s

Continue Reading

Douglas A. McIntyre |

SIRIUS XM Scores Debt Rating Upgrade (SIRI, LCAPA)

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) might not exactly seem like the most stable or improving company by any financial…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

SIRIUS XM Snags Yet Another Upgrade (SIRI)

SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI) may have some risks for new Pandora web radio to the car and over…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

S&P Hikes Amazon.com Corporate Credit Ratings (AMZN)

Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised its corporate credit rating on Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) to ‘BB+’ from ‘BB’. While…
Jon C. Ogg |

Could Sprint Become Investment Grade Credit?

courtesy of Sprint Corp.Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) seems to be in a far better position financially after its merger versus…
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Does Tesla Deserve a Junk Bond Rating?

Standard & Poor's examined Tesla's debt and did not like what it saw. It issued a B- rating, which is…
Jon C. Ogg |

Top Debt & Ratings Agency Actions (AMR, GM, LVLT, CAG, TRI)

Today’s ratings agency actions include a new rating on off-balance sheet arrangement by AMR Corp. (NYSE: AMR), parent of troubled…
Rating Agency Says Sears Is in Default on Some Debt
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Rating Agency Says Sears Is in Default on Some Debt

Standard & Poor's believes Sears is in default on some of its debt. How long before the retailer files for…
Jon C. Ogg |

Top Debt & Credit Rating Agency Actions (CLX, HD, HCA, GCI, ADM, NFX, LUV, AMR)

Today’s reported ratings actions as of just after noon include announcements regarding Clorox Co. (NYSE: CLX), Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:…
Sears Hit With Major Downgrade, Shares Fall Again
Douglas A. McIntyre |

Sears Hit With Major Downgrade, Shares Fall Again

Sears Holdings is already badly damaged by poor financial results, a weak balance sheet, lack of foot traffic and store…

Top Gaining Stocks

Cboe Global Markets
CBOE • Vol: 1,568,143
New Pluto Global
PSKY • Vol: 12,285,993
Seagate Technology
STX • Vol: 7,378,346
Oracle
ORCL • Vol: 26,317,675
Datadog
DDOG • Vol: 6,247,779

Top Losing Stocks

LKQ
LKQ • Vol: 4,367,433
Clorox
CLX • Vol: 13,260,523
Stryker
SYK • Vol: 4,519,455
Mohawk Industries
MHK • Vol: 1,859,865
Amgen
AMGN • Vol: 3,818,618