Value Investor's Opportunities in Distressed Securities

Some of the risks and opportunities associated with investing in distressed securities. 


While regular value investing involves dealing with a wide number of unknowns, distressed securities represent particularly complex situations. 

Because most investors are unwilling to put in the time and effort involved with analysing such securities; for some, the opportunities are plentiful in this realm.



Three Reasons for financial distress

There are three reasons a company might run into financial distress: 

• operating issues, 
• legal issues, and/or 
• financial issues. 

Responses to financial distress and the implications to the investment

Issuers can respond to such situations in one of three ways: 

• continue to pay obligations, 
• attempt to convert obligations into less stringent obligations (e.g. get debt holders to accept preferred stock), or 
• default and declare bankruptcy. 

Investors must understand the implications to their investments as the above scenarios play out. 

Investors must also: 

• understand how other stakeholders will react to such situations, and 
• understand the power that various stakeholders have (for example, one third of a stakeholder groups constitutes a blocking group, and can use this to further that stakeholder group's interests).

Investing Opportunities in Bankruptcies

While bankruptcies are often complex and difficult to analyse.

Investors who know what they are doing usually have tremendous opportunities for returns with very little risk. 

At the same time, someone who doesn't know what he's doing risks losing his entire investment.

The process of analysing financially distressed securities starts at the balance sheet. 

• Assets should be valued so that the size of the pie can be estimated. 
• Obligations should then be subtracted from this amount. 
• This task is much more difficult than it appears, however. 
• For a distressed company, asset values are usually a moving target, and getting a handle on their value can be difficult. 
• Furthermore, off-balance sheet liabilities must also be considered.

In bankruptcies, mis-pricing can occur which allow the enterprising value investors the opportunity for excellent returns.

Read also:

• 
  
• Your investments using Mutual Funds or Money Managers
• Trading and portfolio management from a value investing point of view
• Value Investor's Opportunities in Distressed Securities
• Value Investing Opportunities in the Banking Sector
• Look at FUNDAMENTALS and POTENTIAL CATALYSTS when making investment decisions
• Where to look for Investment Opportunities
• Business value cannot be precisely determined. Make use of ranges of values
• Central elements to a Value Investing Philosophy
• The Philosophy of Value Investing and Why It Works
• Philosophy of value investing. Need to have clear strategies too
• How Wall Streets can create investment fads? The Junk Bond Market of mid-1980s
• Understanding these changes in the investment world allows investors to earn superior returns
• What's good for Wall Street is not necessarily good for investors
• Speculators, Investors and Market Fluctuations