economicz

Z-spread across like credit qualities? Idk man, have you read any of the CFA cirriculum on fixed income?

economicz

I deal with buyside HY credit analysis and trading. IG is a little different b/c most the time credit is pretty solid so I would think you are looking at corporate events that would trigger a downgrade, mainly acquisitions, leverage sellout, or large dividends to equity holders.

For HY I evaluate the following:
-Company Forward Leverage (EBITDA/Net Debt) - so I read a lot of sell side research on EBITDA estimates (next 12 months and beyond)
-Capital Ex. Req. (Maintenance vs Expansion)
-Companies need to raise addl capital via equity/bank loan/bonds
-Company Cap. Structure to see where your bonds rank in default
-Recovery Value in default
-Bond Covenants
-Price/Yield, Cpn, duration, OAS, Call Dates, Equity Clawback Clause, T/O Put, CDS if available, issue size, holders list, etc..