Blake Haxton - Industrials and High Yield

The Business Brew

Blake Haxton, analyst at Brandywine Global Asset Management's High Yield and Corporate Strategies Group, joins the Business Brew. This discussion focuses on the companies Blake covers as well as his views on markets generally. Blake tends to focus on "old economy" industries so prepare yourself for plenty of energy discussion. Bill and Blake also discuss industrials and homebuilders. The conversation also touches on the merits of high yield as an asset class.

Blake was recently featured in Barron's. You can find the article here: https://www.barrons.com/articles/paralympian-blake-haxton-high-yield-brandywine-global-6305e6e5

We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Detailed Show Notes:

4:00 - What Blake covers

5:10 - commodities are fairly tight from a supply demand perspective

8:00 - airline discussion

13:00 - energy as an example of how Brandywine looks to take advantage of capital cycles

16:00 - the prospective outlook for high yield

19:00 - how the high yield benchmark is different from the equity benchmark

24:00 - how the improvement in counterparty risk changed the risk/reward of lending to pipeline companies

28:25 - how to think about decline curves in the US vs. Canadian oil companies

30:25 - how differentials impact Canadian energy economics

38:30 - does it make sense to have an allocation to energy?

42:10 - a discussion about how assets generally are priced

52:00 - the pitch for debt vs. equities

54:45 - where is the US housing market in the cycle?

1:06:00 - trading down in credit quality for yield

1:13:00 - how ETFs can provide opportunities when they sell

1:21:00 - how was covering energy in COVID?

1:29:00 - what’s different today with shale as a key producer