Centennial Communications also got a boost last week, first off the back of Nextel Communications' positive earnings announcement and then from its own stronger quarterly results. Roughly $10 million was believed to have traded in the 66 1/2 67 1/2 context. Levels were recorded in the 68-69 range by the middle of last week.
Centennial got a bad rap earlier this year after buzz floated around the market that the company might soon be in violation of its bank covenants. Peter Chehayl, cfo, said the noise was created by one analyst, who later recalled the report. "We obviously did a review of all of our covenants with our auditors not Arthur Andersen, butDeloitte & Touche and we're fine," he said. In addition, he noted that the company has reached the inflection point in its Caribbean businesses and is showing better revenue and better earnings. "We fully believe that we've turned the corner," he added.
American Cellular, however, had a different story. Any uptick that the company could have swiped from the positive wireless vibe was neutralized when Standard & Poor's downgraded its corporate credit rating. The rating was lowered after the company announced that it would not be in compliance with its total debt leverage ratio covenant for the second quarter. The name was believed to have traded around 67. Calls to Bruce Knooihuizen, cfo, were referred to a spokesman, who did not return calls by press time.