Fitch Ratings removes Rocket Mortgage from downgrade watch

The mortgage giant had been in negative watch status since March 31, following the Rocket-Mr. Cooper merger announcement

Fitch Ratings removes Rocket Mortgage from downgrade watch

The mortgage giant had been in negative watch status since March 31, following the Rocket-Mr. Cooper merger announcement
Fitch Ratings removed Rocket Mortgage from downgrade watch, citing increased confidence in corporate leverage

Fitch Ratings announced Wednesday that it has taken Rocket Mortgage off downgrade watch and has affirmed its long-term issuer default rating of BBB-.

The credit rating agency had previously assigned a negative watch status to Rocket Mortgage on March 31 following its parent company’s acquisition of Mr. Cooper Group for $9.4 billion. At the time, Fitch had noted concerns about Rocket taking on increased corporate debt to fund purchases of mortgage servicing rights.

Fitch’s ratings range from AAA, indicating the lowest expectation of default risk, to D, meaning the company is in default. Had Fitch downgraded Rocket Mortgage to BB+, its corporate bonds would have been considered speculative debt.

In confirming the investment-grade BBB- rating, Fitch said it had reviewed Rocket’s and Mr. Cooper’s first-quarter earnings results and had received additional information from Rocket about its planned capital structure, which increased the rating agency’s “confidence that corporate leverage will decline below the downgrade trigger of 1.0x within one year of transaction closing.”

A corporate leverage ratio of 1.0 means a company’s total debt is equal to its total assets. If assets exceed debt, the ratio would be lower than 1.0.

Fitch cautioned that a ratings downgrade could still occur if Rocket “fails to show meaningful progress toward achieving 1.0x corporate leverage near term or if execution risks related to merger integration lead to operational disruptions, which impact market positioning or result in weakened financial metrics.”

Author

More Headlines