Latest News and Media
IFR News
17 Jun 2025
Terri Cancelarich: UnitedHealth swoops in with US$3bn bond
UnitedHealth Group is raising US$3bn in the US high-grade market as the biggest US health insurer navigates scrutiny from regulators looking into the company's billing practices under its Medicare healthcare plans.
Tuesday's bond offering from the Minnesota-based company is part of its customary yearly fundraising, with UnitedHealth typically issuing in the spring and summer months. Last year, itread more
Digital Dealer
9 Jun 2025
Jay Cushing: Car Shipments to U.S. Drop Over 70%: Tariff Tracker
“A doubling of tariffs from 25% to 50% could raise the cost of a car from $1,500 to $3,000 per vehicle,” said Jay Cushing, senior bond analyst with Gimme Creditread more
Benzinga
6 Jun 2025
Dave Novosel: Dell Rated 'Underperform' As Growth Set to Subside In 'The Second Half:' HP Deemed More Compelling By Analyst
Even though the company has an artificial intelligence server backlog of $14 billion after the first quarter, Dave Novosel, senior investment analyst at Gimme Credit, highlighted that “lumpiness” of AI-enabled server sales was a “major issue.”
According to management, a significant improvement is expected in servers and networking in the second quarter, given the aforementioned non-linear natureread more
CBS News, Moneywatch
4 Jun 2025
Jay Cushing: Trump's 50% steel and aluminum tariffs take effect today. Here's what could get more expensive.
According to Jay Cushing, senior bond analyst with Gimme Credit, steel accounts for 60% of the weight of the average vehicle.
Cushing, however, projects an even steeper price hike. "A doubling of tariffs from 25% to 50% could raise the cost of a car from $1,500 to $3,000 per vehicle," he told CBS MoneyWatch in an email.
A 25% tariff on imported cars remains in place, although the Trumpread more
Russia News Now
3 Jun 2025
Jay Cushing: Look At What Is Happening With The Consumer
With the help of Google Gemini, I found this article from Automotive Dive in a piece back in February talking about the 25% tariff on steel and its impact on the auto sector and price of a car. These stats came from Jay Cushing, a senior bond analyst with Gimme Credit, “A typical car contains about 1,000 pounds of steel with an estimated cost of between $6,000 and $7,000 per vehicle, Cushing saidread more
Bloomberg
3 Jun 2025
Alexandre Dray: Brazilian Airline Azul Criticized Bankruptcy But Failed to Avoid It
“The lingering challenges in the Brazilian aviation sector could temper investor enthusiasm, raise more concerns, and make investors even more cautious about this industry,” said Alex Dray, director of emerging markets research at Gimme Creditread more
Barron's
24 May 2025
Carol Levenson: Retailers Are Giving Mixed Messages on Prices. What Will Really Happen at Checkout
Plus, retailers will have different capabilities to absorb the tariffs based on their business model, reliance on heavily tariffed imports, and supply chain strategy. For instance, home improvement stores like Home Depot will have “more wiggle room” than grocers to keep prices low, wrote Carol Levenson, an analyst at research firm Gimme Creditread more
Barron's
20 May 2025
Dave Novosel: Apple or America? The iPhone Maker Now Has a Better Credit Rating Than the U.S.
After Apple’s earnings report earlier this month, Dave Novosel, senior analyst for U.S. investment grade with bond research firm Gimme Credit, said the company is on pace to generate more than $90 billion of free cash flow this fiscal yearread more
MarketWatch
19 May 2025
Carol Levenson: After Trump rages, Walmart says it will eat ‘some’ of the tariff costs
In a note released Monday, Gimme Credit Director of Research Carol Levenson said that companies have to deal with a rapidly changing tariffs environment, as evidenced by the recent preliminary agreement between the U.S. and China.
“This capricious and volatile (the companies are calling it “dynamicˮ) environment is not conducive to planning a business of any size,” she wrote. “Recall that theread more
The Wall Street Journal
17 May 2025
Jay Cushing: International Paper Is on a Quest to Build a Better Cardboard Box
“There’s a lot of balls in the air,” said Jay Cushing, an analyst with the bond-research firm Gimme Credit. “Is it possible they can deliver on all those things at the same time? Yeah, but it just feels like a big liftread more
Fortune
15 May 2025
Carol Levenson: A Kohl’s board member resigned because she was ‘continually disappointed’ by governance and a lack of transparency. The retailer denies there was any friction
“Itʼs a hot mess,” Carol Levenson, chief research officer and director of U.S. investment grade research at Gimme Credit, told Fortune in a statement. “Poor sales performance, the threat of the resumption of paused Asian tariffs, and governance turmoil combined with strained liquidity requiring last-minute financial maneuvers” all led Gimme Credit to dub Kohl’s with a “deteriorating” credit scoreread more
IFR News
14 May 2025
Carol Levenson: Kohl's tests investor appetite with asset-backed junk bond
“The contemplated transactions reflect a fairly desperate situation,” said Carol Levenson, director of research at research firm Gimme Credit. “The need to amend the credit facility to be able to borrow to refinance a bond maturity is not the sign of healthy liquidity.”
“Kohl’s will be buying time at the end of all this by refinancing its July maturity, but it is encumbering additional assetsread more
Pittsburgh Business Times
9 May 2025
Stu Novick: Coherent shifts focus to data center components amid strategic portfolio changes
"This new management team is about a year in and what they've decided to do is really rearrange the product portfolio, they're not as fixated on some of the same product areas as the former management team," Stuart Novick, analyst with corporate bond investment firm Gimme Credit, said. "The data center area is doing really well, it was up 50% year-over-year. ... Anything related to AI and dataread more
Philadelphia Inquirer
7 May 2025
Dave Novosel: With ‘cable monopoly’ over, Comcast is chasing mobile users
Comcast, whose share price has bounced between $30 and $45 for three years, lost more high-speed Internet subscribers than expected in the first three months of 2025, even as its smaller mobile Internet business and its as-yet unprofitable Peacock streaming business gained users rapidly, noted Dave Novosel, senior analyst at bond research analyst Gimme Credit in New Yorkread more
The New York Times
6 May 2025
Jay Cushing: UPS and FedEx Once Handled a Deluge of Packages From China. That’s Changing.
“It was a bit of a bumpy ride the last time,” said Jay Cushing, an analyst for Gimme Credit. “It took a little while for things to level out, but this is probably going to take even longerread more
Outlook Business
6 May 2025
TL Tsang: How a Devastating Oil Spill and Bold Green Bet Brought BP to the Brink
“This strategy pivot is prompted by subpar returns from these green energy projects and the performance of BP’s shares, which have significantly lagged oil major peers such as Exxon. Instead, the company will refocus its efforts on growing its oil and gas production, increasing its capital spending in these operations by 20% to $10 billion per year between 2025 and 2027,” said TL Tsang, Seniorread more
MarketWatch
24 Apr 2025
Dave Novosel: IBM was the Dow’s worst performer today. ‘Deep breath…It’s more than OK,’ one analyst says.
In a note released Thursday, Gimme Credit analyst Dave Novosel pointed out that IBM added $7 billion of debt during the first quarter to fund its acquisition of cloud software company HashiCorp, which closed in February. “The increase in debt pushed core leverage to 3.5x,” he wrote. “However, considering that free cash flow is likely to exceed $7 billion this year, we expect some debt reduction asread more
MarketWatch
21 Apr 2025
Terri Cancelarich: UnitedHealth stock has shaved nearly 1,000 points off Dow across its worst 2-day slide since 1998
"United has decades of experience in MA, reams of data on member behavior and has been through periods of reimbursement cuts and premium increases many times, so it is troubling that management got it so wrong," Gimme Credit analyst Terri Cancelarich wrote on Mondayread more
Casino.org
15 Apr 2025
Kim Noland: Icahn Activism Could Distract Caesars from Debt-Cutting Goals
In a new report, Gimme Credit analyst Kim Noland points out that Caesars recently added two directors with ties to Icahn to its board. That could signal that the billionaire investor could be ready to push the gaming company to unload its digital business, which could come at the detriment of reducing liabilities.
While Icahn and his representatives agreed to the customary standstill, theirread more
Xinhua
13 Apr 2025
Jay Cushing: Economic Watch: How Trump's tariffs could wreak havoc on North America's auto supply chains
Gimme Credit's analyst Jay Cushing warns that added tariffs on steel and aluminum could increase U.S. vehicle costs by up to 1,500 dollars. The Anderson Economic Group estimates that the tariffs slapped on aluminum and steel could increase electric vehicle prices by up to 2,500 dollars.
If car prices rise further, production and job cuts in the U.S. auto industry "would be inevitable," the groupread more
The Mirror
9 Apr 2025
Carol Levenson: Department store Marshall's set to close all 1,234 stores for 24 hours
Speaking to Mirror.com Senior Bond Analyst, Evan Mann and Gimme Credit’s Director of Research, Carol Levenson, revealed what's going on in the retail industry and which stores are flipping the script on the brutal swathe of closures.
Levenson: "The recent wave of store closures is related to questions of profitability and, frankly, managements know the stock market loves these announcements. Theread more
The Wall Street Journal
7 Apr 2025
Saurav Sen: Chinese Tech Stocks Plunge on Escalating Trade War
Gimme Credit analyst Saurav Sen reckoned that Lenovo could see a 20% revenue drop due to the tariffs, although management remained optimistic about tariffs on the last earnings callread more
Fortune
3 Apr 2025
Carol Levenson: Kohl’s new CEO is making more than double the retailer’s previous top executive as the company struggles with store closures and falling revenue
Kohl’s new CEO is making more than double the retailer’s previous top executive as the company struggles with store closures and falling revenue
While “key growth categories,” including home decor and baby gear, performed relatively well last quarter, that “probably did not compensate for the space they have taken away from other categories dear to the core customer such as fine jewelryread more
The Wall Street Journal
2 Apr 2025
Terri Cancelarich: Judges Issue Mixed Rulings on Lawsuits Over Private-Equity Pension Deals
The insurer's 2024 results were "mixed," with a 27% decline in revenue, but higher spread-related earnings and inflows, wrote Terri Cancelarich, an analyst for corporate bond researcher Gimme Credit, on Mondayread more
The Mirror
2 Apr 2025
Carol Levenson: Costco confirms exactly when they will be closing 617 stores for 24 hours
Speaking to Mirror.com Gimme Credit’s Director of Research, Carol Levenson, revealed what's going on in the retail industry.
Levenson: "The recent wave of store closures is related to questions of profitability and, frankly, managements know the stock market loves these announcements. The prior wave of store closings had more to do with the increased prominence of online shopping and falling storeread more
International Financing Review
24 Mar 2025
Kim Noland: Novolex preps buyout financing
"Pactiv’s products, geographic footprint and manufacturing capability will be highly complementary to the Novolex business in creating one of the largest rigid and flexible manufacturers and distributors of plastic and fiber-based food packaging in the North American food and beverage industry," Kim Noland, director of high-yield research at Gimme Credit, wrote last weekread more
Reuters
24 Mar 2025
Stu Novick: PE firm Clearlake to buy Dun & Bradstreet for $4.1 billion in cash
However, given the amount of time that has passed since the start of the sale process, it would be surprising if a superior offer were to emerge, said Stu Novick, senior analyst at Gimme Credit, an independent corporate bond research houseread more