US coal sector’s credit health stabilizing on export opportunities

摘要

U.S. coal producers’ credit quality has generally stabilized over the pasttwo years as companies focus on shareholder returns and increased capitalspending after many producers cleansed the debt from their balancesheets through bankruptcy restructurings.Improved pricing, particularly for coal destined for export markets,has added to the sector’s improved financial condition despite expectationsof a continued secular decline in demand for domestic thermal coal.Among some of the top-ranked U.S. coal miners, according to an S&PGlobal Market Intelligence analysis using a tool called the credit healthpanel, are companies that either recently went through a bankruptcyreorganization such as Peabody Energy Corp. or were spun out of bankruptcyreorganizations of their predecessors, as is the case with WarriorMet Coal Inc. and Contura Energy Inc.