Published on: December 21st, 2020 • Duration: 66 minutes
Robert Cohen, Director of Global Developed Credit at DoubleLine Group LP, joins Ed Harrison on the second leg of his journey deep into one of the largest and most important asset classes in the world, corporate credit. Cohen highlights that the big beta trade that presented itself during the market dislocation in March is well played out and that in a world starved for yield, supply and demand can drive spreads tighter than investors could imagine. He argues that in this type of environment security selection and patience are paramount and together with Harrison explores the pockets of opportunity that are presenting themselves in sectors like transportation, retail, gaming, and energy that have been heavily impacted by the pandemic. Robert Cohen has also written a report outlining many of the dynamics discussed in this piece that can be found here: https://doubleline.com/dl/wp-content/uploads/A-Survey-of-the-Tiered-Landscape-of-Corporate-Credit.pdf. Filmed on December 11, 2020.
Key Learnings: Credit markets are in full risk on mode and the chase for yield has created supply and demand dynamics leading to a borrower's market. Corporations have taken advantage of this to sure up their balance sheets and extend runways amid pandemic driven slowdowns. In spite of this some idiosyncratic opportunities remain in sectors like transportation, retail, gaming, and energy.
