Fifth Street Finance slips further as sell-side throws in the towel

• On the earnings call yesterday (transcript), Raymond James analyst Robert Dodd scratched his head over the whopping size of some of the non-accruals, noting of the four, two of them now look to be marked at about 50% of cost.
• Responding, CIO Ivenlin Dimitrov notes one of them is Fifth Street's (FSC -2.2%) Canadian oil sands exposure. He feels there's enough asset coverage and business momentum to get better results, but as of Dec. 31, the company thought the mark was appropriate. The other big write-down, he says, is one of FSC's smaller EBITDA companies, and it's one of the reasons Fifth Street is shifting the portfolio towards larger issuers.
• Raymond James cuts to Market Perform and Barclays cuts to Equalweight, with price target lowered to $8 from $11.
• Previously: Fifth Street Finance now off 13.6% after big dividend cut (Feb. 9)
• Previously: New Fifth Street management slashes the dividend (Feb. 9)