May 23, 2010

Bond Credit Rating History Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage via Libaries

A while ago I talked about finding the credit rating history of  GM and at the time I didn't know a source for the rating history on bond issuing companies.  Now I've found one that might be available via your local library.

I have access to the Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage service via my local library.  Your local library may or may not offer access to the service. You'd have to check your library to find out.   I don't know how common it is for libraries to carry the service so sorry if this doesn't apply to you.   If your library does have S&P NetAdvantage then its a good source for corporate credit history ratings on bonds.

 Its fairly easy to find the bond rating history for a company.   In the top right side of the screen is a search box for 'Database Search'.   For that select 'Corporate Bond Reports' under resources then for search by select 'Company Name' then type in the name of a company in the 'Enter' field and hit the arrow button.

I searched for a few companies and it was hit or miss.  I'm assuming some companies simply don't have bond reports since they don't have a report specific to that company or they may just not issue bonds.   I searched for Microsoft, Toyota and Walmart and came up empty. But I found several other well known names.   The bond rating history for a sample of companies I found is given below:



Ford Motor

Rated Last Change Date
CCC 11/3/2009
CCC- 4/13/2009
CCC+ 11/27/2006
B 9/19/2006
B+ 6/28/2006


Merck
Rated Last Change Date
AA- 11/16/2004
AAA Initial


The Boeing Co.
Rated Last Change Date
A 7/29/2009
A+ 11/3/2006
A 5/15/2003
A+ 2/5/2002
AA- 12/4/1998

If your library has access to it then Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage service has a lot of information including the credit rating for bond issuing companies.

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