Foundations of High-Yield Analysis

Since the advent some 40 years ago of a vibrant primary market for speculative-grade corporate bonds, the high-yield market has evolved from a niche occupied by a small group of specialists into a full-fledged institutional investment category. Asset allocators and portfolio managers now have at their disposal the tools necessary for rigorous investment analysis, including financial statements of the issuers, indexes, trading prices, historical default rates, and time series on such credit factors as liquidity, ratings, and covenant quality. This research brief provides up-to-date techniques for extracting from the extensive data the information that can lead to sound investment decisions.