Alan Young

S&P Downgrades American Capital

None of these headwinds are new. The "default" was not failure to make a payment, but triggered by a decline in the value of their portfolio, which served as collateral, LAST YEAR. And the proposal to issue more stock and debt was something like 6 months ago, IIRC.

So why is S&P downgrading NOW?

6 High Yielding Companies Boosting Distributions

Comparing the dividend performance of a corporation like DUK, where dividends are a discretionary (and tiny) fraction of cash flow, with those of REITs and BDCs, which are required to pay 90% of cash flow as dividends, makes no sense. The business models, and the strengths or weaknesses that might be inferred from dividend changes, are completely different. I suspect you have no idea what you are doing, but good luck.

Shooting for 100% Return in One Month

It's been said that the greatest danger for an inexperienced trader is that he'll have a streak of luck and mistake it for brilliance.
Anyone can make this mistake in a bear market rally.

Why This Rally Is Unsustainable

Good analysis, but your narrative lost me about halfway through. Maybe fewer digressions would help.
Clearly GS is manipulating prices on a daily basis. I don't understand why non-GS quant funds can't figure out how to compensate for the obvious ploys.
Good luck with your shorts. The market can stay irrational longer than most of us can stay solvent.

Deep Value in American Capital Strategies

I'm honored to have input from so many knowledgeable people. I see a very constructive discussion all around.

Tourguide: I agree that buying back debt would appear to be a good tactic.

Augustus, NMB, and User 105499 -- okay, I will admit to some confusion here-- I took the point (perhaps thoughtlessly) from the company's SEC filing, here:

phx.corporate-ir.net/p...

... but perhaps I misinterpreted their argument -- or was it bogus? I'd be happy to get more clarity about this.

Re-examining My American Capital Strategies Position

Thanks, Dave, for doing the heavy lifting on this. I like the dividend but without detailed reports like yours I wouldn't have enough confidence to stay with it.

Dividend Yields Soar

ACAS has convinced some analysts that its dividend is safe. As a BDC, it must return a high % of its earnings to shareholders. I have no illusions that I'm going to keep getting the same return on it thru the next year's economic difficulties, but even if the divi is cut in half, it's a bargain. By the same reasoning, LYG and BKK are other good income bets.