
U.S. Inv Grade Best Ideas: Sept 2025
Andy DeVries, CFA - Head of Investment Grade, Head of Utilities, CreditSights
Winnie Cisar - Global Head of Strategy, CreditSights
Zachary Griffiths, CFA - Head of IG & Macro Strategy, CreditSights
Andrew Belton - Head of Basics and Infrastructure, CreditSights
Andrew Brady - Head of Basics, CreditSights
Andy Li, CFA - Senior Analyst, Technology, CreditSights
Charles Johnston, CFA - Head of Energy, CreditSights
Eric Axon, CFA - Co-Head of High Yield, Head of Healthcare, CreditSights
Erick Vega, CFA - Senior Analyst, Telecom Infrastructure, CreditSights
Hunter Martin, CFA - Head of Media/Cable, CreditSights
James Dunn - Head of Consumer Goods, Leisure, CreditSights
Jordan Chalfin, CFA - Head of Technology, CreditSights
Josh Esterov, CFA - Co-Head of U.S. Financials, CreditSights
Matt Woodruff, CFA - Head of Aerospace & Defense / Transports, CreditSights
Michael O’Brien - Senior Analyst, Paper & Packaging, Homebuilders, CreditSights
Miguel Silvestri - Senior Analyst, Industrials, CreditSights
Nick Moglia, CFA - Senior Analyst, REITs, Utilities and Refiners, CreditSights
Todd Duvick, CFA - Head of Autos, CreditSights
Wen Li, CFA- Head of Metals & Mining, CreditSights
3 September 2025
Insights into U.S. investment grade credit selection, sector trends, and issuer strategies, including:
- Analyst-driven credit selection: Explore how cross-sector teams leverage post-earnings reviews and financial metrics to refine their quarterly best ideas list.
- Spread and duration analysis: Understand the key factors influencing spread differentials, average durations, and why certain maturity buckets are prioritized for tracking.
- Issuer event catalysts: Learn which upcoming corporate actions, regulatory changes, and market developments may impact credit profiles and investor sentiment.
- Performance scorecard: Review detailed, name-by-name scorecards tracking historical outcomes and methodology behind static quarterly lists for transparency.
- Tracking and engagement tools: Access recent report links, analyst contact options, and CUSIP tracking resources to support ongoing portfolio monitoring and follow-up.
Executive Summary
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- We have assembled a quarterly, post-earnings roundup from our U.S. investment grade team, highlighting names under active coverage along with observations on spreads, potential catalysts, and links to recent research. No yield hurdle was applied. This is intended to summarize areas of current analyst focus and conviction on credit fundamentals.
- Coverage highlights currently skew toward lower end of the BBB spectrum, with an average OAS and duration profile that differ from the BBB index. A separate subset trends toward mid/high BBB with a somewhat shorter duration profile. Where names lacked 8–10 year points, we referenced nearby maturities for comparability (e.g., 2032s for Fidelity National Info Services and 2030s for Southwest Airlines).
- For deeper dives, please contact the respective analyst teams via the Ask-An-Analyst feature on the right side of the report or by email. Clients may also request an Excel file of relevant CUSIPs for monitoring.
- For the period from May 19 to August 29, we monitored a static basket of names for tracking purposes relative to the BBB index. Aggregate results and name-level analytics are available upon request. Within the tracked basket, several constituents exhibited notable total return outcomes over the period, including Anglo American, APA, Hyatt, Mattel, and EOG. We recognize contributor achievements internally; for example, analysts who identified multiple names with strong relative outcomes during the same quarter are acknowledged in our Best Ideas Hall of Fame. While analysts may update views and coverage assessments intra-quarter, the tracking basket remains unchanged until the next scheduled refresh to maintain measurement consistency.
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