Two Household Names Target and Kraft Appear on Gimme Credit's Investment Grade Bottom Ten

NEW YORK, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Gimme Credit, an independent bond research firm, announced today its semi-annual Investment Grade Bottom Ten.  "Corporate bond spreads have been on a roller-coaster ride for months, mainly zig-zagging with macro developments," says Carol Levenson, co-founder and director of research at Gimme Credit.  "But our team of senior analysts was able easily to find a number of bonds we expect to underperform the market over the next six months based primarily upon company-specific issues.  Some are M&A/event risk related, other picks arose from weakening fundamentals, still others have capital-market dependent business plans that could be thwarted if market volatility persists."

In addition to Target and Kraft the Investment Grade Bottom Ten includes among others Lowe's.  "Three out of the ten are European names--Deutsche Telekom and two banks, BNP Paribas and Royal Bank of Scotland--which is an unusually large percentage," continues Levenson.

Senior analyst Dave Novosel elaborated upon his choice of Kraft for the Bottom Ten.  "Leverage is already high because of the Cadbury acquisition, and the proposed split of the company could add more leverage, depending on the eventual capital structure.  Moreover, event risk is likely to increase as each entity may consider acquisitions as part of a more independent focus. Margins may be pressured by the higher administrative costs associated with running separate operations."

The complete Bottom Ten report is available upon request.  For additional comment from Gimme Credit analysts please direct to Susan Assadi sassadi@gimmecredit.com.

About Gimme Credit:

Gimme Credit is a leading provider of independent corporate bond research to banks, brokers, hedge funds, investment managers and individual investors. The company provides Daily Research Reports with investment recommendations, Intraday Comments, Credit Scores and Analyst Data Sheets on investment grade, crossover, and high yield corporate bonds to thousands of investment professionals at hundreds of financial institutions worldwide. Gimme Credit was founded in 1994 and has offices in New York and Chicago. For more information see www.gimmecredit.com.

Press Contacts:  Susan Assadi or Alexandra Stein
Sassadi@gimmecredit.com  or alix@assadi.com
Gitenstein & Assadi Public Relations 800-922-8792 or 480-860-8792

SOURCE Gimme Credit