Oxford Lane Capital Baby Bonds

Discussion in 'Fixed Income' started by BMK, Jun 22, 2023.

  1. BMK

    BMK

    Interesting article from Seeking Alpha...

    Anyone own any of this stuff, or care to offer their thoughts?
     
    kmiklas likes this.
  2. maxinger

    maxinger

    There are more than enough bonds to trade

    buxl
    bund
    bobl
    schatz
    BTP
    Euro Bono
    GILT


    zb
    zn
    zf
    zt

    JGB

    etc etc etc

    so don't need a baby bond.
     
  3. kmiklas

    kmiklas

    CDOs
     
  4. BMK

    BMK

    Yes, I saw that. The author of the article even points out that the CDOs held by Oxford Lane are often thought of as very risky.

    But he then lays out various reasons he thinks that these bonds have almost no chance of default.

    Do you think there is serious risk?
     
    kmiklas likes this.
  5. BMK

    BMK

    I don't want to trade bonds.

    I want to hold to maturity.

    These look like a good yield without a lot of risk. The author of the article thinks they are underpriced.

    I'm curious what other people think.
     
  6. maxinger

    maxinger

    The article was written by
    Preferred Stock Trader with 5.7K followers.
    ie nameless and faceless.
    It sounds fishy.

    Based on the chart, it doesn't look bullish.
    It seems more like the writer has lost $$$ investing in it.
    No point in collecting dividends and the price keeps on getting
    more and more and more underpriced.

    Anyway, do your own analysis.
    Good Luck!
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2023
  7. BMK

    BMK

    It isn't expected to go up dramatically. It's a bond, not a stock.

    That may well be the case. But that's going to happen anytime you buy a bond and then interest rates go up. If you hold to maturity, you get the face value (assuming the issuer does not default).

    The guy gets good reviews on SA, and has authored articles that have been selected as "Editor's Picks." That means something. I am new to SA, with a paid subscription, and I realize that almost anyone can publish an article on SA. But someone who has only published a few articles would not have 5.7K followers.
     
    MoreLeverage and SunTrader like this.
  8. He’s decent on preferred stocks.
     
  9. kmiklas

    kmiklas

    So the Fund profits from positions in high-risk tranches on CDO/CDLs. They mitigate risk via diversification, and limitations on leverage. These “baby bonds” are used to fund purchases, and the Funds also have a layer of preferred stock to further protect the lender/babybond buyer.

    Where’s the big risk? Similar to the mortgage crisis, where defaults were rampant across the country, a wide-spread rash of defaults would bring them down.

    With rates getting hiked, and efforts to curb inflation, an upcoming recession is a real threat. These high-risk commercial loans would be the first to go belly-up. This could sink one of these funds.

    I rate them somewhere between low investment grade and junk.
     
  10. BMK

    BMK

    Thanks for your input. I'm not afraid to look at junk bonds. I may be comfortable with them in a small portion of our long-term portfolio.

    What do you think about the new 9% notes issued by OMF?

    Maturity = Jan 29
    CUSIP = 682695AA9

    They are rated BB by S&P. They don't have a rating from Moody's. And most or all of OMF's bonds are rated by both agencies. At first I thought that might be a red flag, but then I realized maybe it's because they are too new, and Moody's just hasn't published a rating yet...
     
    #10     Jun 26, 2023
    kmiklas likes this.