Bonds of Navient Corp (NAVI)

Navient公司是一家貸款管理，服務和資產回收公司。公司持有根據聯邦家庭教育貸款計劃（FFELP）保險或擔保助學貸款的組合，以及民辦教育貸款的投資組合。 FFELP貸款是被國家保障,基於美國教育部（ED）和這些貸款機構之間的擔保協議，由國家保證。私人教育貸款則由個別客戶學生及有關保證人或他們的家庭所承擔。 FFELP貸款，私人助學貸款和商業服務：是公司運作的三個主要範疇。公司管理、服務自己的教育貸款組合，以及那些由銀行，信用合作社，非盈利性的機構和ED擁有的教育貸款。它還提供了對自己的投資組合，擔保機構，高等教育機構，海關和其他聯邦客戶，以及國家，法院和市政府資產回收服務。(財務資料可看google finance)

筆者個人意見：
公司的營運性質幾特別，學生貸款組合達US1260億。大部份學生貸款有國家機構擔保。客戶數量(主要是學生)龐大，單一客戶風險非常少，雖是蠅頭小利生意，卻是營運多年，並能將服務拓展到擁有同類貸款組合的機構。雖然評級不高，只有Ba3,BB-，但業務性質簡單易明，幾隻2022-24年到期的債券也有6-7%YTM。
(利申：筆者在IB剛買入這公司的6.125% 2024債@97.2, YTM=6.61%)

以下是Moodys對其債券的評級報告

New York, May 05, 2016 -- Moody's Investors Service has affirmed Navient Corporation's Ba3 senior unsecured debt rating, (P)Ba3 senior unsecured debt shelf rating and Ba3 Corporate Family Rating. The outlook is stable. 

Issuer: Navient Corporation 

..Affirmations: 
.... Corporate Family Rating , Affirmed Ba3 
....Senior Unsecured Shelf, Affirmed (P)Ba3 
....Senior Unsecured Medium-Term Note Program, Affirmed (P)Ba3 
....Senior Unsecured Regular Bond/Debenture, Affirmed Ba3 

..Outlook Actions: 
....Outlook, Remains Stable 

RATINGS RATIONALE 

Moody's affirmed Navient's Ba3 ratings with a stable outlook to reflect the strong asset quality of its $126 billion legacy student loan portfolio, its stable earnings and solid, though diminished financial flexibility. The stable outlook reflects Moody's view that Navient will have sufficient resources to manage the $1.6 billion of unsecured debt maturing between now and the end of 2017 and will manage its liquidity and funding needs conservatively. 

The company's primary credit strength is its approximately $126 billion legacy student loan portfolio and the highly predictable cash flow generation of its $95 billion FFELP portfolio with the remainder comprised of private student loans. The performance of the private student loans has also been and is expected to remain solid. Net income has been steady ranging from 0.70% to 0.85% of total assets over the last three years. 

The largest risk facing the company is its refinancing risk over the next several years as unsecured debt matures. Over the last year, the company increased its reliance on secured funding because the cost of issuing unsecured debt increased through much of 2015. The shift encumbered assets and diminished the company's financial flexibility. As unsecured debt issuance costs recently declined, the company stated that it intends to access the unsecured debt market prior to year-end which would improve its liquidity position, a credit positive. 

Another potential challenge to Navient's liquidity profile relates to the refinancing of the company's $16.6 billion of FFELP warehouse facilities given the reviews of existing term ABS bonds. However, given the government guarantees of the loans securing the warehouse facilities, we expect that the company will be able to refinance its warehouse facilities as needed. 

A rating upgrade is unlikely at this time, but positive credit developments would include a material decrease in financial leverage. 

A downgrade is possible if the company's financial flexibility declines. Given the current funding environment, it is very important for the company to maintain financial flexibility to manage the large level of unsecured debt maturing, particularly in 2018, 2019, and 2020. The ratings could also be downgraded if 1) the financial performance of the company deteriorates or 2) the value of the investment portfolio declines because of a large increase in prepayment speeds on the FFELP portfolio or rising delinquencies and defaults on the private student loan portfolio, for example. 

Navient is a student loan finance company headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware